When Should Law Forgive?, Martha Minow
When Should Law Forgive?, Martha Minow
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When Should Law Forgive?

Author: Martha Minow

Narrator: Janet Metzger

Unabridged: 5 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Law


Synopsis

The potential power of forgiveness in an age of resentment.

Crimes and violations of the law require punishment, and our legal system is set up to punish, but what if the system was recalibrated to also weigh grounds for forgiveness? What if something like bankruptcy—a fresh start for debtors—were available to people convicted of crimes? Martha Minow explores the complicated intersection of the law, justice, and forgiveness, asking whether the law should encourage people to forgive, and when courts, public officials, and specific laws should forgive.

Who has the right to forgive? Who should be forgiven? And under what terms? Minow tackles these foundational issues by exploring three questions:

● What does the international response to child soldiers teach us about the legal treatment of juvenile offenders in the US?

● Why are the laws surrounding corporate debt more forgiving than those governing American student and consumer debt, and sovereign debt in the developing world?

● When do law's tools of forgiveness, amnesties, and pardons strengthen justice, peace, and democracy (think South Africa), and when do they undermine law's promise of fairness (think Joe Arpaio)?

About Martha Minow

Martha Minow is professor of law and former dean of Harvard Law School. She is the author of several books, including When Should Law Forgive?, Making All the Difference, and Upstanders, Whistle-Blowers, and Rescuers.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Richard on June 22, 2021

The title asks an important question, but the book doesn't begin to answer it. The author has impressive credentials as a former dean of Harvard Law School, and merely by asking the titular question she shows that her heart is in the right place. But she gets bogged down in legalisms and is caught u......more

Goodreads review by Wing on October 12, 2019

This book is loaded with great sources and references on said topic. But the author always hesitated to dabble into complex discussions and abstract investigation that presented itself. The read is largely driven by what is and what has been. Thus, this reads a lot like a textbook, which I ought to......more

Goodreads review by Fraser on February 11, 2024

What role should forgiveness and reconciliation have in dealing with wrongdoing? Minow raises the question but doesn't answer it — but in fairness it's not an easy answer as there are points on all sides. Forgiveness may make it easier for victims to move on, but if they're pushed or nudged into for......more

Goodreads review by Alec on May 26, 2023

Professor Minow taught me constitutional law and wrote this book, not in that order. Thought-provoking, brief read. The book doesn't try to interrogate any one of its topic in depth, but provides a broad treatment of forgiveness in the law. What objectives does it advance? How does it interact with......more