A call to tone down our political rhetoric and embrace a common-sense approach to change. Many experts believe that we are at a fulcrum moment in history, a time that demands radical shifts in thinking and policymaking. Calls for bold change are everywhere these days, particularly on social media, but is this actually the best way to make the world a better place? In Gradual, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox argue that, contrary to the aspirations of activists on both the right and the left, incremental reform is the best path forward. They begin by emphasizing that the very structure of American government explicitly and implicitly favors incrementalism. Particularly in a time of intense polarization, any effort to advance radical change will inevitably engender significant backlash. As Berman and Fox make clear, polling shows little public support for bold change. The public is, however, willing to endorse a broad range of incremental reforms that, if implemented, would reduce suffering and improve fairness. To illustrate how incremental changes can add up to significant change over time, Berman and Fox provide portraits of "heroic incrementalists" who have produced meaningful reforms in a variety of areas, from the expansion of Social Security to more recent efforts to reduce crime and incarceration. Gradual is a bracing call for a "radical realism" that prioritizes honesty, humility, nuance, and respect in an effort to transcend political polarization and reduce the conflict produced by social media.

In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

A new collection of compelling and challenging essays from one of the nation's leading voices on criminal justice reform, "Reducing Crime, Reducing Incarceration "makes the argument that sometimes small changes on the ground can add up to big improvements in the criminal justice system.

How do you launch a new criminal justice reform? How do you measure impact? Is it possible to spread new practices to resistant audiences? And what's the point of small-bore experimentation anyway? Greg Berman answers these questions by telling the story of successful experiments like the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn and by detailing the challenges of implementing new ideas within the criminal justice system. As Laurie Robinson, a professor at George Mason University, writes in her introduction: "Berman offers vivid testimony that-even in the face of opposition-it is, in fact, possible to push our criminal justice system closer to realizing its highest ideals. And that, indeed, is good news." Other experts share their opinions:

"The central insight of "Reducing Crime, Reducing Incarceration" is that small tweaks in practice within the criminal justice system can sometimes lead to big change on the streets. By telling the story of the Red Hook Community Justice Center and similar innovations, Greg Berman offers a hopeful message: criminal justice reform at the local level can make a difference." - James B. Jacobs Warren E. Burger Professor of Law New York University School of Law

"Innovation is hard work. In "Reducing Crime, Reducing Incarceration," Berman offers a look at how change happens at the local level-and how, sometimes, it doesn't. These well-written essays offer a compelling vision of both the challenges and opportunities of criminal justice reform." - Nicholas Turner President, Vera Institute of Justice

"The topic of criminal justice reform has challenged and bedeviled social thinkers for centuries. In this book, Berman offers a clear-eyed and inventive approach to the problem. Recognizing that change is best achieved at the local level with small, incremental steps using demonstration projects, Berman provides concrete examples of both successes and failures stemming from the work of the Center for Court Innovation over the last two decades. For anyone interested in the future of criminal justice, this book should be on the top of the 'must read' list." - John H. Laub Distinguished University Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Maryland, College Park

"Here you will find Berman's compelling case for community justice, along with classic readings on problem-solving courts. Berman writes like all the rest of us wish we did...." - Candace McCoy The Graduate Center and John Jay College City University of New York

COURT REFORM ON TRIAL is a recognized study of innovation in the process of criminal justice, and why it so often fails-despite the best intentions of judges, administrators, and reformers. The arc of innovation to disappointment is analyzed through such programs as bail reform, pretrial diversion, speedy trials, and determinate sentencing. A much-maligned system of plea bargaining shifts power to prosecutors away from judges, and formal trials recede in importance-but is that really the problem? Perhaps failure lies in unrealistic expectations, splintered systems and decisionmaking, waning political will, unempowered constituencies, and reformers' hubris. Feeley analyzes the persistent failure and proposes insightful pathways out of the cycle. First commissioned as a study in the influential Twentieth Century Fund series, the book is accessible for today's readers as part of the Classics of Law & Society series of Quid Pro Books. It adds a reflective preface by the author and a new foreword by Greg Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Court Innovation. Calling it an "intellectual touchstone ... brimming with energy not resignation," Berman writes that the book "has all of the hallmarks of Feeley's best work. Lucid prose. Idiosyncratic analysis. A willingness to speak truth to vested interests. And a commitment to describing the way the world actually works from a ground-level perspective-as opposed to the official versions of how systems theoretically should function." "The world has changed a lot and not at all" since the book was first published, Berman adds. "What is striking reading COURT REFORM ON TRIAL again in 2013 is just how relevant it still is.... The number one reason why it should still be required reading for anyone who wants to help our justice system improve is the book's relentless focus on failure." As U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein noted (as to the first edition), "At last the intelligent layman and lawyer have a sophisticated but easily understood analysis of what can and should be done to improve the administration of justice in the United States. What a welcome relief from the demagoguery that permeates most public discussion of the problem." In reviewing the book in the California Law Review, Judge William Wayne Schwarzer stated: "Public interest in other issues waxes and wanes, but court reform has constituencies that never seem to tire. Feeley's book offers an interesting and insightful panorama of efforts to reform the criminal justice system." Those constituencies, and thoughtful readers in many fields, will enjoy a fresh view of the panorama. Using a modern presentation and adding the new introductions, the Quid Pro edition maintains continuity with previous printings by embedding the original pagination; this feature facilitates referencing and classroom assignment-and permits matching, usable pagination in the new ebook edition.