Jocelyn Simonson’s latest book, “Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration,” provides an insightful exploration of how grassroots collective action can challenge and reshape our current criminal justice system.
(Left) Photo: Robert Abruzzese/Brooklyn Eagle
(Right) Photo courtesy of The New Press
In her latest book, which was released on Aug. 15, “Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Mass Incarceration,” Brooklyn Law School Professor Jocelyn Simonson makes a compelling argument for a different approach to dismantling mass incarceration.
Instead of relying on experts and technocrats, she contends that it is ordinary people joining together in extraordinary collective actions that can bring about real change. The book has already garnered praise for its innovative perspective on criminal justice reform.
Simonson’s book is not just a theoretical exploration but dives deep into real-life examples of community-driven interventions that are already making an impact. She highlights how people are paying bail for strangers, using social media to publicize everyday courtroom proceedings, making videos about individuals’ lives for criminal court judges, and presenting budget proposals to city councils.
These acts of resistance, according to Simonson, challenge the notion that prisons make us safer and that justice requires putting people in cages. Instead, they embody a more radical idea of justice.
In “Radical Acts of Justice,” Simonson also examines how grassroots collective actions, such as bail funds, copwatching, courtwatching and participatory defense, are shifting power away from elite actors in the courtroom and toward the collective community.
These actions contest the prevailing ideas of justice and safety and challenge the belief that public officials charged with maintaining “law and order” are truly representing the will of the people.
Simonson’s book is already receiving high…
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