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When Should Law Forgive?
Contributor(s): Minow, Martha (Author)
ISBN: 0393081761     ISBN-13: 9780393081763
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
OUR PRICE:   $26.55  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: September 2019
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Law | Jurisprudence
- Law | Criminal Law - Sentencing
- Law | Judicial Power
Dewey: 345.077
LCCN: 2019014868
Physical Information: 1" H x 5.6" W x 8.3" (0.70 lbs) 256 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Crimes and violations of the law require punishment, and our legal system is set up to punish, but what if the system was recalibrated to also weigh grounds for forgiveness? What if something like bankruptcy--a fresh start for debtors--were available to people convicted of crimes? Martha Minow explores the complicated intersection of the law, justice, and forgiveness, asking whether the law should encourage people to forgive, and when courts, public officials, and specific laws should forgive.

Who has the right to forgive? Who should be forgiven? And under what terms? Minow tackles these foundational issues by exploring three questions:

  • What does the international response to child soldiers teach us about the legal treatment of juvenile offenders in the United States?
  • Why are the laws surrounding corporate debt more forgiving than those governing American student and consumer debt, and sovereign debt in the developing world?
  • When do law's tools of forgiveness, amnesties, and pardons strengthen justice, peace, and democracy (think South Africa), and when do they undermine law's promise of fairness (think Joe Arpaio)?

There are certainly grounds for both individuals and societies to withhold forgiveness, but there are also cases where letting go of legitimate grievances can make the law more just, not less. The law is democracy's girder beam, and Minow urges us to build forgiveness into the administration of our laws. Forgiveness, wisely exercised, can strengthen law, democracy, and respect for the humanity of each person.


Contributor Bio(s): Minow, Martha: - Martha Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of the Harvard Law School. She has been examining and writing about law and forgiveness for decades, beginning with the Independent International Commission on Kosovo and the Imagine Coexistence program for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.