Trial & Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure

When it comes to criminal justice reform, neither citizens nor officials have endorsed the view that problems are solved iteratively. Reluctance to be associated with programs judged failures has stifled innovation and kept criminal justice reformers spinning their wheels.

Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure argues that public policies cannot always be divided into successes and failures. The book examines well-intended programs that for one reason or another fell short of their objectives (D.A.R.E. and Operation Ceasefire being prime examples) yet also had positive aspects. Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tell the stories of committed reformers―judges, cops, attorneys, parole officers, researchers, educators, and politicians―who, despite their knowledge and ambition, did not quite achieve their goals. They introduce readers to a parole officer who has to make a tough judgment call, a legislator who endures political pressure to rewrite sentencing laws, a judge who attempts a new response to drug offenses despite local resistance, and many others.

Greg Berman is the director of the Center for Court Innovation, a public-private partnership that seeks to reduce crime, aid victims, and improve public trust in justice. The Center has won numerous prizes for innovation, including the Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation and the Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and Harvard University. Greg is the coauthor (with John Feinblatt) of Good Courts: The Case for Problem-Solving Justice (The New Press). Aubrey Fox is the director of special projects for the Center for Court Innovation, where he is responsible for a range of initiatives including the Center's efforts to launch a new office in London. Prior to that, Aubrey was the project director of Bronx Community Solutions, a program that provides judges in the Bronx with alternative sanctions for misdemeanor cases.