Roger A. Fairfax, Jr.* There Is a Long and Rich History of Criminal Justice
2011] 597 FROM “O VERCRIMINALIZATION ” TO “S MART ON CRIME ”: AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM —L EGACY AND PROSPECTS Roger A. Fairfax, Jr.* INTRODUCTION There is a long and rich history of criminal justice reform efforts in the United States, including the early twentieth century reformers advocating for the improvement and normalization of criminal procedural and substan- tive law, the large-scale criminal law study and reform efforts undertaken in the late 1960s, and the more recent “overcriminalization” movement. All of these reform movements have sought to make criminal justice more effective, rational, efficient, and fair, although the extent to which they have succeeded is a matter for debate. With Americans feeling less safe (even in the face of dropping crime rates), 1 strained law enforcement budgets, 2 staggering rates of incarceration and recidivism, 3 and real and perceived inequities in the administration of criminal justice, 4 it is beyond peradventure that criminal justice is long overdue for an overhaul. In recent years, a new approach to criminal justice reform—“smart on crime”—has gained traction in policy circles. The smart on crime philoso- phy emphasizes fairness and accuracy in the administration of criminal jus- tice; alternatives to incarceration and traditional sanctions; effective preemptive mechanisms for preventing criminal behavior, the transition of * A.B., Harvard College; M.A., University of London; J.D., Harvard Law School. Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School. The author would like to thank Ellen Podgor, Jeffrey Parker, Ron Gainer, Cynthia Orr, Sol Wisenberg, Ilya Somin, Jim Lavine, the editors of the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy , and the other organizers and participants associated with the Overcriminalization 2.0: Developing Consensus Solutions Symposium.
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