Take a photo of a barcode or cover
jtomich 's review for:
Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair
by Danielle Sered
I was excited to win this book in a Goodreads giveaway, since, having read other great books on the U.S. prison system recently (like "American Prison" by Shane Bauer), this work felt like a natural extension of the conversation, broadening the discussion on our over-reliance on incarceration as a default form of punishment in the United States to consider the bigger picture of violence in a societal context, the limitations of imprisonment for healing the wounds of victims, and current prison alternatives in action.
The strength of the book is her storytelling and sharing of the personal narratives of individuals (both victims and perpetrators) that have been helped by the Common Justice organization where she serves as executive director. These narratives provide real-world evidence that these alternatives can be very effective in select circumstances and I appreciate that the book focuses on violent crimes, which otherwise might be considered less amenable to non-prison penalties than non-violent crimes.
The book does make it clear, however, that the individuals who are eligible for the Common Justice program are a carefully selected population (16 to 26 year old violent felony offenders and their victims, if both are agreeable to the reconciliation process in place of prison). In some of the narratives, there are several perpetrators for a single crime, but only one is referred by the court for the reconciliation alternative. Because of this and despite the excellent success rate of the program, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the methods described in the book would be applicable to the larger population of violent offenders.
In spite of this, I think that the work that the folks at Common Justice have done to help individuals and their communities to heal from violence and to give these young offenders the opportunity to truly redeem themselves is very inspiring. I agree with the author's sentiment that programs like this should be considered the default option whenever possible, with prison sentences considered the alternative (rather than the other way around, as has been common practice).
The weakness of the book in my opinion is the sections where the author moves beyond her personal experience and leans more heavily on rhetoric in place of evidence. These sections are still well-written and I think her arguments will be inspiring to people who are already on-board with the ideas that she is proposing, but they definitely could be beefed up with more substance and less prose and I did find it increasingly difficult to follow the thread of her arguments toward the end of the book as the lack of concrete details and examples was washed away in a flood of impassioned appeal that seemed to be aimed at hitting all of the leftover buttons on this particular topic.
The strength of the book is her storytelling and sharing of the personal narratives of individuals (both victims and perpetrators) that have been helped by the Common Justice organization where she serves as executive director. These narratives provide real-world evidence that these alternatives can be very effective in select circumstances and I appreciate that the book focuses on violent crimes, which otherwise might be considered less amenable to non-prison penalties than non-violent crimes.
The book does make it clear, however, that the individuals who are eligible for the Common Justice program are a carefully selected population (16 to 26 year old violent felony offenders and their victims, if both are agreeable to the reconciliation process in place of prison). In some of the narratives, there are several perpetrators for a single crime, but only one is referred by the court for the reconciliation alternative. Because of this and despite the excellent success rate of the program, it cannot necessarily be assumed that the methods described in the book would be applicable to the larger population of violent offenders.
In spite of this, I think that the work that the folks at Common Justice have done to help individuals and their communities to heal from violence and to give these young offenders the opportunity to truly redeem themselves is very inspiring. I agree with the author's sentiment that programs like this should be considered the default option whenever possible, with prison sentences considered the alternative (rather than the other way around, as has been common practice).
The weakness of the book in my opinion is the sections where the author moves beyond her personal experience and leans more heavily on rhetoric in place of evidence. These sections are still well-written and I think her arguments will be inspiring to people who are already on-board with the ideas that she is proposing, but they definitely could be beefed up with more substance and less prose and I did find it increasingly difficult to follow the thread of her arguments toward the end of the book as the lack of concrete details and examples was washed away in a flood of impassioned appeal that seemed to be aimed at hitting all of the leftover buttons on this particular topic.