What do you think?
Rate this book
Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas About Justice
How to envision a justice system that combines the least possible punishment with the greatest possible healing, from an all-star cast of contributors
“An extraordinary and long overdue collection offering myriad ways that we can and must completely overhaul the way we imagine as well as implement ‘justice.’”
—Heather Ann Thompson, historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Blood in the Water After decades of overpolicing and ever-more punitive criminal justice measures, the time has come for a new approach to violence and community safety. Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas About Justice brings together leading activists, legal practitioners, and researchers, many of them justice-involved, to envision a justice system that applies a less-is-more framework to achieve the goal of public safety. Grounded in a new social contract heralding safety not punishment, community power not state power, the book describes a paradigm shift where justice is provided not by police and prisons, but in healing from harm. A distinguished cast of contributors from the Square One Project at Columbia University’s Justice Lab shows that a parsimonious approach to punishment, alongside a reckoning with racism and affirming human dignity, would fundamentally change how we respond to harm. We would encourage mercy in the face of violence, replace police with community investment, address the trauma lying at the heart of mass incarceration, reduce pre-trial incarceration, close the democracy gap between community residents and government policymakers, and eliminate youth prisons, among other significant changes to justice policy.
“An extraordinary and long overdue collection offering myriad ways that we can and must completely overhaul the way we imagine as well as implement ‘justice.’”
—Heather Ann Thompson, historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Blood in the Water After decades of overpolicing and ever-more punitive criminal justice measures, the time has come for a new approach to violence and community safety. Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas About Justice brings together leading activists, legal practitioners, and researchers, many of them justice-involved, to envision a justice system that applies a less-is-more framework to achieve the goal of public safety. Grounded in a new social contract heralding safety not punishment, community power not state power, the book describes a paradigm shift where justice is provided not by police and prisons, but in healing from harm. A distinguished cast of contributors from the Square One Project at Columbia University’s Justice Lab shows that a parsimonious approach to punishment, alongside a reckoning with racism and affirming human dignity, would fundamentally change how we respond to harm. We would encourage mercy in the face of violence, replace police with community investment, address the trauma lying at the heart of mass incarceration, reduce pre-trial incarceration, close the democracy gap between community residents and government policymakers, and eliminate youth prisons, among other significant changes to justice policy.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published February 21, 2023
8 people are currently reading
1417 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 22, 2023
Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas About Justice, edited by Jeremy Travis and Bruce Western, is a collection of essays that work toward figuring out what a truly just system would look like and be based on.
For this type of review, I'm not going to try to distill many of the points presented. Partly because each essay is, while related to the others, a self-contained argument, so each deserves separate consideration as well as consideration as part of the larger argument. I will say that the key is to treat every citizen as a human being, whether the one who made a mistake or one who was harmed by another's mistake. The one thing that must be done before our criminal legal (not justice since there is no justice in our system) system can even begin to be trusted is to acknowledge the complete and utter failure it has been to this point to actually serve ALL citizens. Otherwise, it will remain untrusted and an arm of a white supremacist "government."
There is both abstract ideas as well as concrete first steps here, but there is also an understanding that this is a project that will require a lot of work and every step will need to be considered, reconsidered, and then monitored once adopted. So this is not some pie in the sky, plug and play solution, this is an attempt to begin to build a just society.
Most readers will question some elements, though I think the writers all do a good job of answering most of the questions that might make someone uneasy about the ideas. Even coming away from this book with a couple things you're not sure you can get behind (yet) will still have opened the dialogue for you to think about how the ends can be accomplished while respecting the humanity of everyone.
We don't, as a society, have to insist on the maximum pain and suffering while withholding opportunities for someone to successfully rejoin society. Especially when our laws and our enforcement of those laws are not simply uneven but downright unjust and targeting those already held back by other institutional obstacles, not to mention some rather evil people with an unwarranted sense of entitlement and superiority.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in changing our system to one that is both just and equitable, whether you're a scholar, part of the legal system, or an activist. Debate is good and this book offers plenty to consider and discuss.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
For this type of review, I'm not going to try to distill many of the points presented. Partly because each essay is, while related to the others, a self-contained argument, so each deserves separate consideration as well as consideration as part of the larger argument. I will say that the key is to treat every citizen as a human being, whether the one who made a mistake or one who was harmed by another's mistake. The one thing that must be done before our criminal legal (not justice since there is no justice in our system) system can even begin to be trusted is to acknowledge the complete and utter failure it has been to this point to actually serve ALL citizens. Otherwise, it will remain untrusted and an arm of a white supremacist "government."
There is both abstract ideas as well as concrete first steps here, but there is also an understanding that this is a project that will require a lot of work and every step will need to be considered, reconsidered, and then monitored once adopted. So this is not some pie in the sky, plug and play solution, this is an attempt to begin to build a just society.
Most readers will question some elements, though I think the writers all do a good job of answering most of the questions that might make someone uneasy about the ideas. Even coming away from this book with a couple things you're not sure you can get behind (yet) will still have opened the dialogue for you to think about how the ends can be accomplished while respecting the humanity of everyone.
We don't, as a society, have to insist on the maximum pain and suffering while withholding opportunities for someone to successfully rejoin society. Especially when our laws and our enforcement of those laws are not simply uneven but downright unjust and targeting those already held back by other institutional obstacles, not to mention some rather evil people with an unwarranted sense of entitlement and superiority.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in changing our system to one that is both just and equitable, whether you're a scholar, part of the legal system, or an activist. Debate is good and this book offers plenty to consider and discuss.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
February 10, 2023
Parsimony is an edited volume of essays which examine the systemic inequities of the American criminal legal system and consider ways for reform. Its central thesis considers shifting the key function of the criminal legal system from punishment to parsimony, which fits well among arguments for decarceration and abolition. I appreciate that the editors compiled essays from a variety of perspectives, including both advocates and activists and individuals who participate in the criminal legal system in positions of authority, such as judges and former wardens. While I found the essays could be a bit repetitive at times, as different authors' topics overlap with similar areas of focus and key statistics, their arguments are compelling. While I consider myself an abolitionist, I struggled with the essays discussing parsimony for individuals convicted of violent crimes. I appreciate being pushed by their arguments to reexamine my relationship with punishment and retribution. The prose can also be a bit dense at times, which makes sense as an academic text, particularly in the chapters that are more theory-oriented.
I can tell that many of these essays were written in the aftermath of the summer of 2020 protests for Black Lives, and its attendant discussions around prison abolition and police reform. The context clearly imbues the essays with a sense of urgency and purpose. It is a little strange to read these essays nearly three years later; I resonated with one author's concern about brief windows of opportunity as a challenge against movement building. Even so, I am compelled by their conclusions about coalition building and shifting larger cultural attitudes. This volume offers pertinent commentary on the crucial issues of justice, equity, and community.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I can tell that many of these essays were written in the aftermath of the summer of 2020 protests for Black Lives, and its attendant discussions around prison abolition and police reform. The context clearly imbues the essays with a sense of urgency and purpose. It is a little strange to read these essays nearly three years later; I resonated with one author's concern about brief windows of opportunity as a challenge against movement building. Even so, I am compelled by their conclusions about coalition building and shifting larger cultural attitudes. This volume offers pertinent commentary on the crucial issues of justice, equity, and community.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 1, 2023
This is a book of different essays written by multiple riders on how we could have shorter jail time with more healing. Most of these essays would only work in the utopian society where everyone can be fixed and everyone feels remorse. Unfortunately we live in the real world no matter how many different programs we come up with and they have a Lotta good ones in this book they’re still going to be run by humans who are fallible prejudice hateful ET see the program is only as good as the people running it. So kudos to those riders trying to make a difference but unfortunately we have serial killers who get off on killing people we are rapists who want to see hurt and pain in someone’s eyes and we have child molesters who think it’s the God-given right to have sex with children and I don’t know how you fix any of those things with shorter jail time and more healing. They had some very good ideas as I said but they put them in to practice is where the house of cards is going to crumble. But what do I know I am just a simple reader of a book and it’s just my opinion. I did like this book and at least there are people trying to make the world better instead of just playing armchair quarterback and saying what they should’ve done after it’s too late. I have number respect for those who wrote the book and I found it very entertaining in on some level really agree with these people but knowing reality it would ultimately fail. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
April 1, 2023
I'd say this book is absolutely essential for anyone interested in the justice system and creating a better world going forward. I've read a few radical justice + abolition books/essays and one of the most frequent critiques I see is that there is a lack of concrete ideas for how to change things. That critique is understandable but I also believe that change needs to be collaborative and one must not hold all the answers to have their view taken seriously. That being said, I love that this book does hold concrete ideas and means of change that we can implement in different sectors of the justice system, activist spaces, etc! The language and information presented is super accessible and I found myself questioning things I had never thought of before- one of the most prominent passages being about how we must not paint others as the villains in our story to seek change ("Children not criminals"). Really challenging ideas that more people should reckon with as we move forward in our current reform/defund/abolish climate. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this truly invaluable book!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews