These essays explore, broadly speaking, two related issues: first, the extent to which we have confidence in law to deal with the range of social, political and moral issues which constantly confront us; second, the extent to which law makes room for perspectives which do not speak law's traditional language of logic, reason, certainty, and so forth. Faith in this context refers to that which is known or experienced in ways which are difficult to articulate or justify, but which are nonetheless real and undeniable to many individuals and groups. This idea of faith extends beyond the encounter...

Every modern democratic state imprisons thousands of offenders every year, depriving them of their liberty, causing them a great deal of psychological and sometimes physical harm. Relationships are destroyed, jobs are lost, the risk of the offender being harmed by other offenders is increased and all at great expense to the state.
How can this brutal and costly enterprise be justified? Traditionally, philosophers answering this question have argued either that the punishment of wrongdoers is a good in itself (retributivism), or that it is a regrettable means to a valuable end, such as the...