The Justice Diary

In coffee shops, convenience stores, and courthouses across the country, Americans are struggling to agree on why the justice system they have is not the justice system they want. Dramatically different experiences with it frustrate every attempt at a common description of the problem, and the grim consensus that filling prisons and detention centers is almost no one's goal gives no hint to what the solution could be. But recently, analyses such as Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and the work of public policy organizations such as Right on Crime have described many of the large-scale realities and drawn some of the hard edges of the picture. Fred Van Liew's The Justice Diary: An Inquiry into Justice in America gives it face-to-face detail. Throughout this approachable collection of vignettes, Van Liew, a former prosecutor, documents his conversations with crime victims, parents, lawyers, police officers, offenders, and other community members who candidly share their stories and thoughts on how the justice system has affected their lives and communities. From his unique vantage point-that of a career justice system insider with experience in restorative justice-Van Liew reflects on the conversations he strikes up. The questions he asks, of himself and of his readers, will help Americans envision and work toward a way of establishing constructive accountability and providing the justice we all deserve.