Crime, Violence, Justice: Philosophical Perspectives, the inaugural volume in Trivent’s Criminal Justice and Philosophy series, couldn’t be more timely: issues related to crime, violence, and justice are at the forefront of both the news and the scholarly works that attempt to understand how these phenomena intersect with and within one another. Accordingly, the diverse team of researchers collected herein engage in innovative, critical, and global/international debates by addressing the intersection of criminal justice and social, political, ethical, and legal philosophy. Presenting a diverse and wide-ranging study of the current state of law and philosophy, the volume brings law and philosophy into the larger realm of justice studies by operating as a sounding board not only for philosophers and theorists, but also for the legal and institutional practitioners who are tasked with implementing these philosophies of justice in the practical world. 

Wrongly perceived as a purely theoretical endeavor, these diverse and much-needed philosophical examinations also raise important pragmatic questions by opening up the possibility of thinking about actual alternatives and answers to the problems it––criminal justice itself––was supposedly designed to address. The volume provides innovative and critical approaches to crime, violence, and justice by drawing upon a wide array of philosophical traditions and empirical examples from around the world. As editor Blake Wilson powerfully argues in his Introduction, the volume focuses on those who are the raison d’etré of the criminal justice system––the defendants themselves and their communities––who are often forgotten or tokenized by academic and ideological discussions. In this sense, the book becomes essential for all of us who are driven to pursue justice from the perspective that the criminal justice system needs reimagining. It is a must-read for those who study and work in the many systems worldwide that form the many worlds of criminal justice.

Sebastian Sclofsky, author of Black, Poor, and from the Periphery: Experiencing Police Violence in São Paulo and Los Angeles (New York University Press), and co-editor of Police and State Crime: Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan)

M. Blake Wilson is a philosopher and a lawyer specializing in criminal justice, legal studies, philosophy of law (primarily criminal law and procedure), applied ethics, and social and political philosophy. He is associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at California State University, Stanislaus, where he works within the concentration in Criminal Legal Studies. He is also the director of the minor in pre law, coordinator of the Pre-Law Resource Center, and one of the campus pre-law advisers.