Research on “Justice in Relation to Society” is an expanding domain but is generally lacking a multidimensional approach in the social sciences. The IUAP (Interuniversity Attraction Poles) project 7/22 “Justice & Populations: The Belgian Experience in International Perspective, 1795-2015” is a multidisciplinary program funded by BELSPO (Belgian Science Policy Office), studying the relationships between justice and populations. This conference concerns more specifically workpackage 1b (KU Leuven, UCL, ULg, UNamur, Cesdip): “The State Justice System: Functioning, Reform, Actors”.

The judicial system is taken as a point of departure to examine different levels of justice-society relationships. Both the structure and functioning of the national justice system are shaped by constant interaction between institutional actors at various levels of the “judicial chain” (policing, prosecution, judgment, penal practice), which is, in turn, subject to change and reform as a result of varying public demands and attitudes towards justice. Examining the agency of collective judicial actors also necessitates further study of the intellectual, social and professional networks of justice: prosopography of justice personnel; processes of professionalization and professional culture; (inter)national associations of judicial actors such as magistrates, police officers, lawyers.

The main objective of the conference is to present the first research results of the projects in this workpackage and to open a discussion on the topics with international scholars and policy makers in Belgium.