Justice Reinvestment by Fox, Chris; Albertson, Kevin; Wong, Kevin;

Short description:

This book looks at the experience of Justice Reinvestment in the US and the challenges that this particular type of holistic, evidence-based, economically driven approach to criminal justice reform will pose in the UK.

Long description:

Rising prison numbers on both sides of the Atlantic are cause for concern. Justice Reinvestment is a major movement in criminal justice reform in the US that is also attracting lots of interest in the UK. Justice Reinvestment is an approach to addressing the penal crisis that uses the best available evidence to re-direct resources to more effective rehabilitation of offenders and better ‘prehabilitation’. It takes a more holistic view of criminal justice and is particularly concerned to address the community dimensions of offending and re-offending. The authors highlight competing models of Justice Reinvestment and argue for a more radical version in which criminal justice reform is seen as part of a wider social justice reform programme.

This is the first substantial publication on Justice Reinvestment and shows that ‘Justice Reinvestment’ has huge potential to re-shape the criminal justice system. It will be essential reading for undergraduate and post-graduate students with an interest in criminal justice reform. Practitioners and policy-makers working in the criminal justice system in the US and the UK will also value the fresh perspective it brings to criminal justice reform and its breadth of coverage including insights into the penal crisis, different models of Justice Reinvestment, the use of criminal justice data and research evidence in re-designing criminal justice services and new approaches to commissioning.

"This book provides a timely overview of the success, or otherwise, of JR (justice reinvestment) approaches as we near a new general election and the end of a political cycle… The authors are particularly strong on the application of economics in JR, emphasising the social justice aspirations of the movement as opposed to a narrower economics-based criminology informed by Rational Choice theory." – Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns, the Howard League for Penal Reform

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction, 2. Rising prison numbers: the key challenge for criminal justice policy, 3. Justice Reinvestment overview, 4. A new approach to criminal justice policy, 5. Justice mapping, 6. Justice Reinvestment and evidence-based policy, 7. The economics of criminal justice policy, 8. New ways of financing criminal justice interventions: Payment by results and Social Impact Bonds, 9. Conclusion.