Routledge Imagining a Greater Justice: Criminal Violence, Punishment and Relational Justice

Even for violent crime, justice should mean more than punishment. By paying close attention to the relational harms suffered by victims, this book develops a concept of relational justice for survivors, offenders and community. Relational justice looks beyond traditional rules of legal responsibility to include the social and emotional dimensions of human experience, opening the way for a more compassionate, effective and just response to crime. The book’s chapters follow a journey from victim experiences of violence to community healing from violence. Early chapters examine the relational harms inflicted by the worst wrongs, the moral responsibility of wrongdoers and common mistakes made in judging wrongdoing. Particular attention is paid here to sexual violence. The book then moves to questions of just punishment: proper sentencing by judges, mandatory sentences approved by the public, and the realities of contemporary incarceration, focusing particularly on solitary confinement and sexual violence. In its remaining chapters, the book looks at changes brought by the victims' rights movement and victim needs that current law does not, and perhaps cannot meet. It then addresses possibilities for offender change and challenges for majority America in addressing race discrimination in criminal justice. The book concludes with a look at how individuals might live out the ideals of a greater―relational―justice. Review Imagining a Greater Justice is a thoughtful examination of the realities of the criminal justice system for all the stakeholders: victims, offenders, and communities. As such it is an essential read for anyone interested in an efficacious justice system. Unlike most other books it authentically gives voices to all these stakeholders through personal narratives. It demonstrates a moral regard and respect for the experience of all these figures, which is no doubt due to the rich experience of the author. As such, when it advocates for changes, these changes have a legitimacy that demands attention. Mary Graw Leary, Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law (2019), "A Vision of Criminal Violence, Punishment, and Relational Justice," 17: 225-238. This is a very important book and I am hopeful it finds a wide readership. Pillsbury has galvanized our imagination of the justice system we actually could have. He manages to get underneath all the issues we need to explore with sophistication, keen insight and great heart. He proposes a point of view both larger and more humble and our country will benefit greatly... if we listen to him. Gregory Boyle, S.J. Founder of Homeboy Industries. Author of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion This is an important piece of scholarship that offers meaningful insights and novel ways of thinking about issues of law, justice and the human condition. It contains numerous "aha!" passages that inspire head nodding in recognition of the fundamental truths laid bare. The author’s style successfully captures legal nuances without being tedious or overly technical. The issues explored could not be more timely; indeed, with recent broad societal recognition of issues of sexual abuse and harassment the prescience of the author’s observations border on startling. The discussion of racism―particularly the pervasiveness of unconsciously held attitudes about race―could significantly affect individual attitudes and legal and social policies. James Acker, Distinguished Teaching Professor, School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany This lucid and engaging book reconceptualizes criminal law in a fascinating way, drawing together a number of important strands of the discussion that are too often treated separately: criminal law, jurisprudence and philosophy, psychological questions, practical questions of institutional design and even spiritual questions. It also considers topics that are rarely treated in standard criminal law accounts: most particularly t