Justice Reinvestment is a major movement in criminal justice reform in the US and is attracting lots of interest in the UK from both sides of the political spectrum. It is an approach to addressing the penal crisis that looks in detail at the causes of offending that result in offenders ending up in custody. In particular, it examines the factors that result in a disproportionate number of offenders coming from certain communities and neighbourhoods and looks to develop more holistic approaches to reducing offending and re-offending that address the totality of an offender career.

This...