Can Justice Reinvestment Deliver Social Justice?

Wong, KKS (2018) Can Justice Reinvestment Deliver Social Justice? In: Routledge Handbook on Social Justice in Criminal Justice. Routledge, 711 Third Avenue, 8th Floor’ New York, NY 10017. ISBN 9781138545649

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Abstract

Justice Reinvestment is both an ideal and an approach to reducing mass incarceration. It was originally conceived of as a way of creating a more socially just criminal justice system based on reallocating prison funds to invest in high incarceration communities. Underpinning it is an explicit economic argument, centred on using evidence to make changes which will provide a better return for society than the existing criminal justice system. This article assesses the extent to which the social justice conceptualisation of Justice Reinvestment set out by Susan Tucker and Eric Cadora in 2003 has been achieved. It will examine: the development and implementation of Justice Reinvestment in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia; how the impact of Justice Reinvestment on social justice can be measured; and how it is likely to develop in the future.