Recovering the Promise of Public Truth: Juridification and the Loss of Purpose in Public Inquiries

My intention in this work is to investigate the apparent disconnect between the intended social purposes of inquiries and the impact pressures of juridification have had on them, and consider what steps inquiries may take to resist these pressures. Public inquiries, formerly relied on as an alternative to criminal and civil proceedings and as a means to engage the public on issues of policy, now seem to exhibit more intense procedures akin to those found in the alternative processes they were designed to resist. Under increasing juridification pressures, what function should public inquiries fulfil? In short, my aim is to explore our understanding of public inquiries and the implications of the trend towards juridification is having on the ability of public inquiries to fulfil their social and policy functions.