Justice Reinvestment ─ Winding Back Imprisonment

Justice reinvestment was introduced as a response to mass incarceration and racial disparity in the United States in 2003. This book examines justice reinvestment from its origins, its potential as a mechanism for winding back imprisonment rates, and its portability to Australia, the United Kingdom and beyond. The authors analyze the principles and processes of justice reinvestment, including the early neighborhood focus on 'million dollar blocks'. They further scrutinize the claims of evidence-based and data-driven policy, which have been used in the practical implementation strategies featured in bipartisan legislative criminal justice system reforms.

This book takes a comparative approach to justice reinvestment by examining the differences in political, legal and cultural contexts between the United States and Australia in particular. It argues for a community-driven approach, originating in vulnerable Indigenous communities with high imprisonment rates, as part of a more general movement for Indigenous democracy. While supporting a social justice approach, the book confronts significantly the problematic features of the politics of locality and community, the process of criminal justice policy transfer, and rationalist conceptions of policy. It will be essential reading for scholars, students and practitioners of criminal justice and criminal law.

David Brown is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Adjunct Professor at the School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He has published widely in criminal law, criminal justice, criminology and penology. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Chris Cunneen is Professor of Criminology in the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Australia, and Adjunct Professor at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. He has published widely on Indigenous legal issues, juvenile justice, penality and restorative justice. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Melanie Schwartz is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research interests centre around the intersection between the criminal justice system and Indigenous communities, the potential of justice reinvestment to reduce the number of people in prison, and investigating attitudes to imprisonment of young people.

Julie Stubbs is Professor in the Faculty of Law and Director of the Crime and Justice Research Network, University of New South Wales, Australia. Her publications include studies on justice reinvestment, women and criminal justice, violence against women, homicide and restorative justice.

Courtney Young is Lecturer in Criminal Law and Evidence Law, University of New South Wales, Australia. She practices as a criminal defence lawyer in a private firm in rural New South Wales and is co-author of Zahra and Arden's Drug Laws in New South Wales (3rd edition).