Skip to main content

Rehabilitation and Incarceration: In Search of Fairer and More Productive Sentencing

By Anonymous

Still yearning for more on the criminal justice system after Confessions of an Innocent Man and When Justice Fails? Looking for another perspective from that of the (fictionally) wrongfully accused or social science researchers? Not to fret… Rehabilitation and Incarceration: In Search of Fairer and More Productive Sentencing offers a unique, judicial perspective from the late Hon. Harold Baer Jr., who served on the New York Supreme Court and later “The Mother Court.”

In Rehabilitation and Incarceration, U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. explains the crisis of mass incarceration; how it came about; and the pressing need and means to reduce prison populations and recidivism, promote rehabilitation and re-entry into society, and protect public safety.

Having presided over the experimental re-entry court of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Baer brings to Rehabilitation and Incarceration insight from his extraordinary experience in taking responsibility at every stage of the criminal law process—from federal prosecutor to defense attorney to judge presiding at trial and sentencing. In this book, Judge Baer recounts the lessons learned from his re-entry court experience and argues that public safety and our sense of humanity require that we drastically improve prisoner sentencing and re-entry into society to reduce the high rate of recidivism.

Of the book, Fordham University Norris Professor of Law John D. Feerick writes, “Judge… Baer lived a life of good works and service to the community, with a faith in humanity and the worth of every individual. Deploring a culture of mass incarceration and severe collateral consequences of sentencing, the book offers many ideas for a better way of achieving the ideal of rehabilitation. It reflects the author’s passionately-held view that in a country unique in the history of the world as a bastion of freedom, new and realistic approaches can and must be taken to reduce prison penalties, mandatory minimum sentences, and recidivism. The book is excellently documented in dealing with the problem of incarceration and filled with invaluable insights as to fairer and more productive sentencing. Judge Baer has left us an important legacy in the writing of his last manuscript. It deserves a wide reading by interested observers of criminal justice.”

Rehabilitation and Incarceration: In Search of Fairer and More Productive Sentencing is now available on the New Books shelf.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Amazing, but True, Deportation Story of Carlos Marcello

By
Earlier this week, the University of Houston Law Center was fortunate to have as its guest Professor Daniel Kanstroom of Boston College of Law. An expert in immigration law, he is the Director of the International Human Rights Program, and he both founded and directs the Boston College Immigration and Asylum Clinic. Speaking as the guest of the Houston Journal of International Law’s annual Fall Lecture Series, Professor Kanstroom discussed issues raised in his new book, Aftermath: Deportation Law and the New American Diaspora . Professor Michael Olivas introduced Professor Kanstroom to the audience, and mentioned the fascinating tale of Carlos Marcello, which Professor Kanstroom wrote about in his chapter “The Long, Complex, and Futile Deportation Saga of Carlos Marcello,” in Immigration Stories , a collection of narratives about leading immigration law cases. My interest piqued, I read and was amazed by Kanstroom’s description of one of the most interesting figures in American le...
1 comment
Read more

This Day in Legal History -- Roy Cohn

By
Big lawyers have big personalities, and few had as big a personality as Roy Cohn who was born on this day in New York City in 1927. Cohn’s career was spent in the Washington DC—New York axis, famous in the press for his legal and social exploits, his list of famous and infamous clients, and as the poster-boy for every stereotype of the dishonest grasping lawyer. The legal career of Roy Cohn is an object lesson on the use, and abuse, of the lawyer’s power. Roy Cohn was born on February 20, 1927 in New York City. His father was a justice in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court and was well connected politically. These connections, along with a precocious intelligence which allowed him to graduate from Columbia law school at age 20, paved the way for a bright legal career. Cohn’s first job (after waiting until he turned 21 to be admitted to the bar) was as an assistant U.S. Attorney in New York. He first came to prominence in his role as a prosecutor in the Rosenberg espi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bar Exam: Some History & Comparison

By Lauren Schroeder
It's that time of year again...time for two to three days of squeezing out all the material that hopeful lawyers have been pounding into their heads over several months - the bar exam. To mark the occasion, here is a brief history of the exam itself, as well as a taste of what is required to become an attorney elsewhere. Prior to the mid-1800s, there were no written bar exams. Instead, the path to becoming a lawyer led hopefuls through "apprenticeships, self-directed reading, and oral examinations." The next phase made use of a diploma privilege, which remained until the ABA began requiring exams in the 1920s. (A diploma privilege does still exist in Wisconsin, however.) The first state to employ a written version of the bar exam was Massachusetts, in 1855. (See Riebe, A Bar Review for Law Schools: Getting Students on Board to Pass Their Bar Exams , 45 Brandeis L. J. 269 (2007) for quoted material and historical information.) Bar exams consisted only of essays until...
Post a Comment
Read more