Friday, August 12, 2016

Blogging for Books: "Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice" by Adam Benforado





Summary:

The author Adam Benforado is an associate professor of law at Drexel University. He uses examples and case studies to explore perception and biological factors as they relate to the criminal justice system and inherent criminal behavior. Through these examples Benforado offers the reader different points of view regarding our every day bias, how they carried over into the legal system and how they bend the ability to render "fair" justice.

Review:

Does disgust have a role in whether someone receives fair treatment? Are there checks and balances to ensure ethical opportunities in determining innocence? Or is it all about getting the conviction, regardless of fault?  These are some of the questions explored by the author.

The examples that Benaforado used dissected the inherent flaws that exist in the legal system because it is does not exist in a vacuum apart from bias.He incorporates how socioeconomic factors, biology and perception all play a role in determining innocence and how these factors play into an individuals actual propensity to commit a crime. Meaning, for example, that poverty and living in a rough neighborhood is an implication of being guilty of something and how the system is tilted in that view.

As a Criminology graduate, many of the themes explored in this book are familiar to me and it read a lot like a classroom lecture. The points were easily understood and the concepts were carried throughout the text. However, I felt like there were parts that were repetitive and one-dimensional. Though many of the points were thought provoking and offered perspective there were also many areas of the book that were just regurgitations of the same historical references that come up in the average Criminology text... which, I guess, should be expected from a professor.

The element that I felt that it was missing was the "where do we go from here?" piece. I felt that this book was relevant, given the current Black Lives Matters movement, but it lacked the passion and outrage for the inbalance in our current social justice system. We see it every day played out int he media where race, affluence, and stature play a role in whether a person is viewed as innocent and how that becomes more pertinent than actual guilt.

I saw where the author was going with biology playing a role in a person's propensity to determine right from wrong, thus their likelihood to commit a crime, as well as how it is ingrained into the systemic flaws of our criminal justice system through bias and emotional responses such remorse, empathy or disgust, but I feel that each issue is so complex that each could have their own book and this was really just an introduction into those topics. This is not to say that I did not enjoy the book but, towards the end, it felt a little flat.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.