Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration

by Jocelyn Simonson

An original argument that the answer to criminal justice reform lies not with experts and pundits, but with ordinary people taking extraordinary actions together--written by a leading authority on bail reform and social movements


From reading books on mass incarceration, one might conclude that the way out of our overly punitive, racially disparate criminal system is to put things in the hands of experts, technocrats able to think their way out of the problem. But, as Jocelyn Simonson points out in her groundbreaking new book, the problems posed by the American carceral state do not present just technical puzzles; they present profound moral questions for our time.


Radical Acts of Justice tells the stories of ordinary people joining together in collective acts of resistance: paying bail for a stranger, using social media to let the public know what everyday courtroom proceedings are like, making a video about someone's life for a criminal court judge, presenting a budget proposal to the city council. When people join together to contest received ideas of justice and safety, they challenge the ideas that prosecutions and prisons make us safer; that public officials charged with maintaining "law and order" are carrying out the will of the people; and that justice requires putting people in cages. Through collective action, these groups live out new and more radical ideas of what justice can look like.


In a book that will be essential reading for those who believe our current systems of policing, criminal law, and prisons are untenable, Jocelyn Simonson shows how to shift power away from the elite actors at the front of the courtroom and toward the swelling collective in the back.

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Justice, Politics, Sociology, Law, Feminism

245 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 15, 2023

Reviews

[Fei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concrete examples/case studies of different tactics for abolition

[Madison ✨ (mad.lyreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Jocelyn Simonson covers multiple ways in which ordinary people are helping to fight mass incarceration, from community organizations to pay for bail to court watching.

I read this book as a criminal defense attorney who has seen mass incarceration from an academic and professional viewpoint. Simonson takes a difficult topic and breaks it down for people who are newer to this field. She talks about these different forms of organizing in depth in a way that is both understandable and critical. She is able to discuss the negatives to some of these methods without critiquing the practices as a whole. This book felt very well researched and very respectful to those organizers working hard across the country to help work within and outside of an incredibly broken system.

Simonson writes very clearly, and each chapter felt like a well written law review article. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in dismantling mass incarceration from a beginner's point of view.

Thank you to The New Press and Netgalley for this eARC!

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of things in this book that I agree with from letting judges see defendants as people and I think these community hub groups are a positive thing anytime the people who are directly affected by these laws have a say in the process cannoli be a positive thing the only thing I do not like ended happens a lot especially in in nonfiction books were they are trying to sue your opinion I definitely want you to know there is a tell you the most extreme situation in the chapter on community Hobbes that get funding to get people out of jail and/or like the people in Chicago who won to abolish the financial part jew away with pre-trial incarceration altogether and she told about black women who were arrested one woman was arrested for assaulting her cousin and in the book it says she was arrested in her nightgown and spent 500 and more days in another woman in Massachusetts who physically assaulted her newborn but it seemed the only thing that was important to the author of this book was not the victims of those crimes but the fact these women had high bails and that they were black and female. I do think the laws in this country have gone overboard we have laws about laws we have over a dozen amendments to the murder law in over a dozen different kinds of murder and although in some cases no truly innocent people in prison but with any law or even something as minor as an opinion the innocent are going to suffer they say there’s always an exception to the rule and in books like this they always drag out the exception or the most extreme case but the one thing I found absent in the telling of the sad tales were the outcome of these women’s trials. I do think the reason why for eons white judges have led affluent white defendants get away with murder is because they can either see their self in them or they know them and see the mess people that is also why sadly so many black, brown and unconnected white people get high sentences this is also why the guy who was an expert on gangs in those affiliated with gangs is a good and necessary thing no one should be punished for the crazy decisions we make when were young scared and Theo we have no other choice I do think if people break the law they should go to jail or get probation or some kind of intervention like they do with some drug attic‘s but not everyone is innocent and not everyone can be saved or some truly bad people that deserve to be in jail and should probably remainder of the rest of their life I do think it is hub community groups that are actually in the community that will be best to decide who those people are and who’s should benefit from their resources. I just don’t think doing away with pre-trial incarceration or financial bail is going to stop it. This was a really good book and greatly needed at this time and it is because of people like the ones in Jocelyn Simmons book radical acts of justice may even change the face of our judicial system but just like the system no one has a perfect solution but the fact that they are trying is better than those that aren’t. I want to thank net galley and the author for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Jackson Samples · Rating 5 out of 5]

Radical Acts of Justice is an informative dive into the multifaceted efforts to make decarceration a reality in the United States. It’s an excellent book if you want to feel a bit more hopeful and better equipped to think about and participate in social/political advocacy, even regarding issues not directly related to mass incarceration and prisons. And it’s very helpfully grounded in the experiences of people directly affected by the criminal legal system.

I also particularly appreciated how Simonson addresses the relationship between short- and long-term change. In doing so, I think she productively challenges the notion that there is always a neat or helpful distinction between activism that occurs “within” the system and “outside” of it. And she reminds us that structural changes take time, effort, and compromise, and that the movements to make these changes will themselves change overtime.

[Paco · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only real criticism is I feel like this could have been an essay instead of a book, but I only say that cuz I’m already familiar w the activist tactics so the parts of the book that were like “this is what court watching is all about” were aggressively skimmed (not to say they weren’t well written! Would def recommend this to someone relatively new to and interested in learning more about what she discusses).

Her main thesis is really well argued, which is to show how grassroots actions like she described can be made to contest power structures in ways that snowball and manifest abolitionist futures. A really interesting take on what it even means to be “prefigurative” and why that doesn’t always have to be derogatory.

[Christine LaBatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look into what people are doing to try to help prevent mass incarceration. This is a lot description and not as much analysis as I expected going in. It is still very interesting reading and a very important topic!

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

[Gabriela Veron · Rating 4 out of 5]

"bail money is ransom"
The book gives an in-depth of how the judicial system is made to abuse people from certain communities. And explain about ideas that have been implemented to fight this and how has improved the lives of many. Very interesting book.

[Susan Herring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an excellent, well-written, thorough book on our unjust system of "criminal justice", and how so many BIPOC are unfairly treated and criminalized. And, more importantly, what "ordinary folks" are doing to change the system.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so good. Court watching chapter especially (though I’m probably biased on this front)

[Raghav Pradhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative and inspirational