Paul Brakke

Uncertain Justice Paul Brakke

Why is there so much uncertainty about how to reduce crime and fix what's wrong with the criminal justice system? How can we make these fixes and lower the high costs of incarceration?

UNCERTAIN JUSTICE discusses recent problems and suggests some fixes. To this end, it presents a commentary based on a recent series of press releases on current issues and is divided into these sections:

- Improving citizen-police relationships

- Promoting prison reform and better prison sentencing

- Healing the divisions in American society

- Dealing with illegal immigration

- Coping with the opioid crisis

- Portraying the criminal justice crisis in popular culture

- Using a social media and video campaign to help fix the criminal justice system.

The chapters in each section highlight what's wrong in response to recent developments in legislation, in the news, and in research reports. Then, each chapter concludes with some suggestions for reforming the system.

Today, these fixes are needed more than ever, given the spiraling costs of crime and imprisoning too many prisoners for much longer than necessary. As the book describes, we need to have as many productive, understanding, legal, law-abiding citizens as possible to move the country forward.