Juridification, discretionary power and the moral universe of public sector professionalism

Courts in the UK and elsewhere have played an increasingly prominent role in the political regulation of public services such as education, health and social care. This development has fuelled a juridification of the public sector as members of the public seek recourse to the courts and the broader legal system to right perceived injustices. Juridification has also made its presence felt in public services via the spread of legal discourse in the shape of consumerism, contractualisn and an ever-evolving web of accountabilities. This development has attracted the attention of scholars across disciplines such as law, public administration and sociology, which have explored its implications for issues such as service quality, administrative burden and regulatory over-reach. Debates so far are often couched in the context of new public management and/or new governance, conceptual lenses through which the various pathologies of juridification can be critically examined. An important strand of this work explores the relation between juridification and street-level bureaucracy, in this case those who serve at the front lines of public services – teachers, social workers, medical professionals and so on. Given their role in policy making, a focus on street-level bureaucrats in the context of juridification makes sense, as they often wield considerable discretionary power in the conduct of their professional duties. But what tends to be overlooked in this analysis is their role as mediators between the public and the public sector - to what extent has increasing juridification impacted on these relations and what are the consequences of this imposition? This is a significant question as there is already a strong evidence base which points to street-level bureaucrats as moral arbiters of both public policy and public behaviour, a form of discretionary power than can sit uneasily alongside the force of legal accountability. Using the author’s own research as well as the broader public policy literature, the current paper will explore the intersection of these forms of accountability, in particular the ways in which juridification impacts the moral universe of public relationality.