Description
Book SynopsisIn this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one k
Trade Review"The philosopher John Dewey once wrote that understanding things the way they are is the first step in making them different. This book tells us that understanding failure is the first step to creating a fairer and safer community for everyone." -- Cyrus Vance, Manhattan District Attorney
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Foreword Introduction 1 The Four Types of Failure 2 Failure amid Success 3 The Complicated Legacy of Operation Ceasefire 4 The Billion-Dollar Failure: Parole and the Battle for Reform in California 5 Beyond Simple Solutions:Mastering the Politics of Tragedy in Connecticut 6 Defining Failure Conclusion Afterword Notes References Index About the Authors
