The Justice of Mercy

"The book is clearly written and contains a superb bibliography."
--R. A. Carp, University of Houston, CHOICE - Highly Recommended

"The Justice of Mercy is exhilarating reading. Teeming with intelligence and insight, this study immediately establishes itself as the unequaled philosophical and legal exploration of mercy. But Linda Meyer's book reaches beyond mercy to offer reconceptualizations of justice and punishment themselves. Meyer's ambition is to rethink the failed retributivist paradigm of criminal justice and to replace it with an ideal of merciful punishment grounded in a Heideggerian insight into the gift of being-with-others. The readings of criminal law, Heideggerian and Levinasian philosophy, and literature are powerful and provocative. The Justice of Mercy is a radical and rigorous exploration of both punishment and mercy as profoundly human activities."
—Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Ethical and Political Thinking, Bard College

"This book addresses a question both ancient and urgently timely: how to reconcile the law's call to justice with the heart's call to mercy? Linda Ross Meyer's answer is both philosophical and pragmatic, taking us from the conceptual roots of the supposed conflict between justice and mercy to concrete examples in both fiction and contemporary criminal law. Energetic, eloquent, and moving, this book's defense of mercy will resonate with philosophers, legal scholars, lawyers, and policymakers engaged with criminal justice, and anyone concerned about our current harshly punitive legal system."
—Carol Steiker, Harvard Law School

"Far from being a utopian, soft and ineffectual concept, Meyer shows that mercy already operates within the law in ways that we usually do not recognize. . . . Meyer's piercing insights and careful analysis bring the reader to think of law, justice, and mercy itself in a new and far more profound light."
—James Martel, San Francisco State University

"The Justice of Mercy is exhilarating reading. Teeming with intelligence and insight, this study immediately establishes itself as the unequaled philosophical and legal exploration of mercy. But Linda Meyer's book reaches beyond mercy to offer reconceptualizations of justice and punishment themselves. Meyer's ambition is to rethink the failed retributivist paradigm of criminal justice and to replace it with an ideal of merciful punishment grounded in a Heideggerian insight into the gift of being-with-others. The readings of criminal law, Heideggerian and Levinasian philosophy, and literature are powerful and provocative. The Justice of Mercy is a radical and rigorous exploration of both punishment and mercy as profoundly human activities."
—Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Ethical and Political Thinking, Bard College

"This book addresses a question both ancient and urgently timely: how to reconcile the law's call to justice with the heart's call to mercy? Linda Ross Meyer's answer is both philosophical and pragmatic, taking us from the conceptual roots of the supposed conflict between justice and mercy to concrete examples in both fiction and contemporary criminal law. Energetic, eloquent, and moving, this book's defense of mercy will resonate with philosophers, legal scholars, lawyers, and policymakers engaged with criminal justice, and anyone concerned about our current harshly punitive legal system."
—Carol Steiker, Professor, Harvard Law School

"The Justice of Mercy is a must read to anyone interested in theories of punishment. Taking mercy as a paradigm of justice, Meyer shows how the justice of punishment lies not in general principles founded in reason, but rather in the judgment of the individual as a member of a community. The book offers a novel reading of Kant, Heidegger and Levinas, and opens a new way for thinking about justice in criminal theory as well as in our day-to-day criminal justice system."
—Shai Lavi, Tel Aviv University

"The book is clearly written and contains a superb bibliography."
—R. A. Carp, University of Houston, CHOICE - Highly Recommended

* CHOICE *

"Meyer's book is not only timely, it is engaging and beautifully crafted, though sure to be controversial."
—Carol Steiker, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

* Criminal Law and Criminal Justice *

"If there is more to probe about the politics and dangers of a given merciful settlement, and how to restrict what is punished criminally, this is precisely due to Ross Meyer's thought-provoking, stimulating and persuasive opening that moves debate beyond the all but petrified retributive images of punishment. In the wake of her bold conceptual opening lies the tangible prospect of inclusive, merciful punishment practices in pruned socio-legal institutions that promise a justice of "being with," commendably propagating responsible veneration and clemency to all others."
—George Pavlich, Law, Culture, and the Humanities

* Law, Culture, and the Humaniti