Restorative Justice: Prison as Hell or a Chance for Redemption (Electronic book text)

America keeps expanding its prisons - despite the lack of any credible evidence to show that this punitive view of justice provides safer communities and reduces crime. How is this justice system serving us? Restorative justice, as presented here, involves the recognition that criminals can be reformed and rehabilitated and that current models of punitive justice often cause even more pain while failing to help crime victims or reduce crime. The author explains what a system of restorative justice would look like, examining issues of parole, victim restitution, and human agency. Nearly two-thirds of the text is occupied by an excerpt from a memoir of a female offender, illustrating some of the issues discussed in other sections of the book.