Great intro resource about reshaping America’s reliance on punishment. It doesn’t get into abolition as much as I expected it to, but the scope of the book has to do with violence and mass incarceration as related but different issues. Points that really hit home were how incarceration fails at ever ...more
EVERYONE should read this book. Trying to figure out how to get your skeptical friends/families to be abolitionists? Read this. Don't consider yourself a prison abolitionist? Read this. Suffering from white guilt and don't know what to do with it? Read this. A crime survivor who is weary about priso ...more
So good. Through an exploration of restorative justice history, practices and examples, Sered offers not just an alternative to our punishment-based justice system, but also a path for us as a society to apply restorative justice to our history and systems of slavery and mass incarceration to actual ...more
Oh this book is critical. Sered manages to get deep at the heart of issues around incarceration, punishment, and accountability in a way that is so clear and insightful and cuts right to the quick. Starting with both how our current criminal law system fails survivors and how we can and should bette ...more
Sered makes the most compelling and thoughtful case for a path forward, for both interpersonal and state violence, both individual and societal justice. Remarkably thorough and oozes wisdom. ...more
People familiar with the uncomfortable details of mass incarceration know that meaningful reform in the US will require us to reevaluate how we respond specifically to violent crime. Because incarceration is the default in our criminal justice system, it can be difficult for people to conceptualize ...more
A brilliant book that uncovers the ways our society's obsession with locking people in cages, especially POC, poor and trans/GNC folks, destroys our ability to face and heal from harm that occurs in our communities. Sered provides a powerful framework and narratives to speak to the power of restorat ...more
An excellent collection of case studies and well-defined theses on white society's obligation to face its obsession with violence and punishment and start putting effort into healing and community building at all levels from school suspensions to incarceration for violent offenses. ...more
I would recommend this for progressives who are invested in reducing prison populations but take for granted that imprisonment is the best response to violence. Sered's analysis of how imprisonment effects individuals and communities, and her anecdotes of Common Justice clients shows how policing an ...more
Was a but slow at first but you needed the base of understanding the relationships between the harmed and those who harm to understand how effective reformative justice can be. I wish there were more anecdotes about some of the people who have gone through common justice ...more
It’s going to take me a while to write a full review because I saved so many quotes… it’s going to be a long one. For now, I’m going to post what I wrote on Facebook when I was about 39% done with the book. My completed review will probably say a lot of this same stuff:
The 1st half, on the origins of American violence and the failures of the US prison system, is fabulous*. The 2nd half, on how to move forward, is vague to the point of vacuity. Defining a problem is so much easier than proposing a solution.
* What I took from the 1st half: Violence is often a reacti ...more
While I have the highest regard for Michelle Alexander and her ground-breaking book of 2010, "The New Jim Crow", Danielle Sered's work takes the conversation about race and mass incarceration to another level. Sered makes necessary connections between the criminal justice system in the United States ...more
I was fortunate enough to receive this in a giveaway on Goodreads. I also think this is a great introduction to restorative justice for people who do not know much about it or is skeptical about its use for violent offenses. ...more