MERCY

Restorative justice has attracted increasing support worldwide but it sits uncomfortably alongside entrenched attitudes towards punishment and retribution Because it does not involve lockingup people and throwing away the key it is not favoured reading for riskaverse politicians or the media There are also vested interests at play which can be traced back to when the state first sought to enhance its coffers and cast victims to the sidelines As a result the concept of mercy has become largely lost distorting relationships between victims offenders and communities This is a book for everyone concerned about the unfortunate state of our existing penal practices Tapio LappiSeppala The author argues that rediscovering mercy would lead to a more humane and purposeful form of criminal justice His book looks at the characteristics of mercy and explains how it has become confused with mitigation and leniency He goes on to deconstruct and analyze current theories and make proposals for reform Longoverdue reform of contemporary criminal justice necessitates as the author writes a paradigmshift requiring inspired leadership and a consensus to do justice better between policymakers academics jurists professionals and opinionformers The book examines the implications and challenges of such a journey and its value in helping to shape a modern progressive enlightened and civilised society Identifies a lost ingredient of criminal justice shows where criminal justice went wrong and why it needs to recover and change direction contains important new proposals Based on a lifetimes experience of prisons and dealing with prisoners of all kinds in the UK and abroad David J Cornwell has extensive experience of prisons and is an expert on restorative justice His books include Criminal Punishment and Restorative Justice 2006 and the more recently acclaimed Civilising Criminal Justice 2013 as editor with John Blad and Martin Wright Tapio LappiSeppala is Director General of the N