A Unified Theory of Justice and Crime : Justice That Love Gives

Despite great effort and some improvements, criminal justice today still seems like an oxymoron. There are some very good reasons for this feeling: catastrophic failures abound and marginal improvements appear revolutionary. This book addresses the idea of justice in order to guide society toward a more effective justice system. Specifically, the authors argue that justice and love are one and the same thing. They trace impoverished and accomplished thinking in criminological and justice discourses and show that the historic ills that have plagued humanity tend to evaporate when justice and love are understood to be synonyms.

"Having been a big fan of Michael DeValve’s first book, I began reading this one with anticipation and excitement. Like the previous book, this is a breath of fresh air into criminological thought and a beacon of light for those of us who seek a more compassionate, loving, and human(e) approach to justice. DeValve, Garland, and Wright have composed a rich and sometimes delightfully iconoclastic critique of prior theorizing about crime and justice. In the end, they tap into something so essential, yet so neglected in our understanding of crime and criminal justice: the centrality of love in what it means to be human. Empathy, compassion, moral duties and responsibilities, connection, and mercy are all filtered through the notion of love and distilled into a refreshing unified theory of justice and crime where humanity, humaneness, and humanization are front and center." - Scott Vollum, University of Minnesota, Duluth