A review by banksynb
Peace and Good Order: The Case for Indigenous Justice in Canada by Harold R. Johnson

4.0

“The more we rely on incarceration, the more we are forced to incarcerate.” I listened to this on audio book (which I do recommend) but I think it deserves a reread in physical format so I can spend more time sitting with the ideas presented here. This book made me uncomfortable, and rightly so. As someone who has spent 6 years studying in the post-secondary environment, and almost 7 years working on the admin side of various universities, the reflection on law school as a gatekeeper rather than bridge to the profession, implicitly and explicitly designed to limit access, was easy to extrapolate to academia as a whole and left me with much food for thought on my own experience as a student, teaching assistant, and administrator. It is easy to see why I personally connected most to this first section of the book as my experience with the justice system is limited and indirect at best, which in the context of this work is a privilege as a white settler Canadian I need to spend more time thinking critically about.