Overview

A towering and beloved figure in legal scholarship, Martha Minow explores the complicated intersection between law, justice, and forgiveness. Should law encourage individuals to forgive? And when should the courts, public officials, and specific laws forgive? With empathy and acumen, Minow acknowledges that there are certainly grounds for both individuals and societies to withhold forgiveness, but argues that there are also many places where letting go of justified grievances can make law more just, not less. Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

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In a world of noise and confusion, animated by vengeance, Martha Minow is a voice of moral clarity: a lawyer arguing for forgiveness, a scholar arguing for evidence, a person arguing for compassion.--Jill Lepore, best-selling author of These Truths No one but Martha Minow could have written this brilliant, and brilliantly readable, meditation on the role of forgiveness in the law and of the law in forgiveness...[showing how] to move forward and rebuild while both remembering the past and getting past it.--Laurence Tribe, author of To End a Presidency In this time, so shaped by reactionary and 'call-out' cultures that foster harsh, virtue-signaling condemnation of others, this brilliant book carries a profound reminder: for a diverse society to cohere as a humane society, it has to have the capacity--rooted in law--to forgive and reconcile. This book's inspiring discussion of how the law can do this is a beacon to that more humane society.--Claude Steele, author of Whistling Vivaldi Martha Minow's work on how societies can recover from large-scale tragedies and human-rights violations has been transformational...Her insights are smart, thoughtful, and rooted in a deep, nuanced understanding of what justice sometimes demands.--Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative

In a world of noise and confusion, animated by vengeance, Martha Minow is a voice of moral clarity: a lawyer arguing for forgiveness, a scholar arguing for evidence, a person arguing for compassion.--Jill Lepore, best-selling author of These Truths No one but Martha Minow could have written this brilliant, and brilliantly readable, meditation on the role of forgiveness in the law and of the law in forgiveness...[showing how] to move forward and rebuild while both remembering the past and getting past it.--Laurence Tribe, author of To End a Presidency In this time, so shaped by reactionary and 'call-out' cultures that foster harsh, virtue-signaling condemnation of others, this brilliant book carries a profound reminder: for a diverse society to cohere as a humane society, it has to have the capacity--rooted in law--to forgive and reconcile. This book's inspiring discussion of how the law can do this is a beacon to that more humane society.--Claude Steele, author of Whistling Vivaldi Martha Minow's work on how societies can recover from large-scale tragedies and human-rights violations has been transformational...Her insights are smart, thoughtful, and rooted in a deep, nuanced understanding of what justice sometimes demands.--Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative Minow's compassionate, knowledgeable, and nuanced examination...is groundbreaking and should provide a useful framework for future policy makers. A solid, accessible contribution to the literature of restorative justice.

"A solid, accessible contribution to the literature of restorative justice.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Minow's compassionate, knowledgeable, and nuanced examination...is groundbreaking and should provide a useful framework for future policy makers.-- ""Publishers Weekly"" In a world of noise and confusion, animated by vengeance, Martha Minow is a voice of moral clarity: a lawyer arguing for forgiveness, a scholar arguing for evidence, a person arguing for compassion.--Jill Lepore, best-selling author of These Truths In this time, so shaped by reactionary and 'call-out' cultures that foster harsh, virtue-signaling condemnation of others, this brilliant book carries a profound reminder: for a diverse society to cohere as a humane society, it has to have the capacity--rooted in law--to forgive and reconcile. This book's inspiring discussion of how the law can do this is a beacon to that more humane society.--Claude Steele, author of Whistling Vivaldi Martha Minow's work on how societies can recover from large-scale tragedies and human-rights violations has been transformational...Her insights are smart, thoughtful, and rooted in a deep, nuanced understanding of what justice sometimes demands.--Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative No one but Martha Minow could have written this brilliant, and brilliantly readable, meditation on the role of forgiveness in the law and of the law in forgiveness...[showing how] to move forward and rebuild while both remembering the past and getting past it.--Laurence Tribe, author of To End a Presidency 'May one be pardoned and retain the offense?' (Hamlet). In a book at once compassionate, nuanced, and tough-minded, Martha Minow brings together in an illuminating conjunction a set of issues that at first glance seem to have nothing whatever in common: horrific crimes committed by child soldiers, corporate and student debt, and presidential pardons for unrepentant criminals. All of these, as Minow brilliantly shows, raise the same pressing and contentious question: For what offenses and under what conditions should a just legal system offer forgiveness? This is a legal minefield through which When Should Law Forgive? provides an indispensable guide.--Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize winner [When Should Law Forgive?] will help readers understand the thorny complexities of forgiveness under law.-- ""Booklist"""

Author Information

Martha Minow is the 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, where she teaches courses on constitutional law and on law and social change. She has written many influential books and articles about law and society.

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