Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure
Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox demonstrate the need for experimentation--trial and error--in developing successful problem-solving programs. Their voice stands in sharp contrast to the bombastic cries and exaggerated claims of most so-called reformers. --Malcolm M. Feeley, Author, Court Reform on Trial and The Process is the Punishment, and Claire Sanders Clements Professor Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, BerkeleyThis provocative book charts a promising path for criminal justice reform in this country. I can think of no other book like it, and I urge front-line practitioners, policymakers, and scholars to read it. As the nation faces severe budget cuts, the lessons learned from past failures seem more important than ever. --Joan Petersilia, Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, Stanford University Law SchoolPeter Drucker once observed that Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times--but also hit 714 home runs. We needn't be discouraged by Berman and Fox's findings; in fact, there's probably more to learn by diagnosing and embracing and learning from failure than in thinking we can easily or glibly replicate success. At a time when clarity and transparency and trust are so lacking and so needed in policy and politics, this book can help us all see more clearly the seeds of failure and the ingredients necessary for clear-eyed and sustainable success in criminal justice reform that really works. --Ira A. Jackson, Henry Y. Hwang Dean and Professor of Management, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University