Justice Reinvestment: Winding Back Imprisonment(Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology)

Justice reinvestment was introduced as a response to mass incarceration and racial disparity in the United States in 2003. This book examines justice reinvestment from its origins, its potential as a mechanism for winding back imprisonment rates, and its portability to Australia, the United Kingdom and beyond. The authors analyze the principles and processes of justice reinvestment, including the early neighborhood focus on 'million dollar blocks'. They further scrutinize the claims of evidence-based and data-driven policy, which have been used in the practical implementation strategies featured in bipartisan legislative criminal justice system reforms.  This book takes a comparative approach to justice reinvestment by examining the differences in political, legal and cultural contexts between the United States and Australia in particular. It argues for a community-driven approach, originating in vulnerable Indigenous communities with high imprisonment rates, as part of a more general movement for Indigenous democracy. While supporting a social justice approach, the book confronts significantly the problematic features of the politics of locality and community, the process of criminal justice policy transfer, and rationalist conceptions of policy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners of criminal justice and criminal law.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Justice Reinvestment: A Response to Mass Incarceration and Racial Disparity 2. How Has Justice Reinvestment Worked in the USA? 3. The Politics of Locality and Community 4. Justice Reinvestment, Evidence-Based Policy and Practice: In Search of Social Justice 5. How Does Justice Reinvestment Travel? Criminal Justice Policy Transfer and the Importance of Context; Policy, Politics and Populism 6. Conclusion

About the Author :
David Brown is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Adjunct Professor at the School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.  Chris Cunneen is Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Adjunct Professor at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia.  Melanie Schwartz is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research interests centre around Indigenous legal issues, justice reinvestment and access to justice.  Julie Stubbs is Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her areas of publication include justice reinvestment, women and criminal justice, violence against women, homicide and restorative justice.  Courtney Young is Lecturer in Criminal Law and Evidence Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. She practices as a criminal defence lawyer in a private firm and is co-author of Zahra and Arden's Drug Laws in New South Wales (3rd edition).   

Review :
“This book is … a major contribution to Australian public criminology, and the specific issue of the over-incarceration of Aboriginal people across Australia. … As Australia addresses both the overall increases in incarceration, and the specific hyperincarceration of Aboriginal people, this book provides essential reading … for academics, and government and non-government agencies hoping to make a difference.” (Bronwyn Naylor, Alternative Law Journal, Vol. 42 (1), 2017) “The book brings together in one place the most detailed and insightful assessment of justice reinvestment that I have read. Its observations about the origination of the idea, its spread in the United States (‘US’) and elsewhere, and the challenges it now poses for penal reformers in my home country, the US, especially are, in my view, spot on. Congratulations to the authors; congratulations and thanks.” (Todd Clear, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, Vol. 28 (1), 2016) “The authors are to be congratulated for Justice Reinvestment: Winding Back Imprisonment, a book that is well researched and engaging, which stimulates thinking and provokes questions, and is an outstanding work of scholarship.” (Luke McNamara, Current Issues In Criminal Justice, Vol. 28 (1), 2016)