The words we use to talk about justice have an enormous impact on our everyday lives. As the first in-depth, ethnographic study of language, Talking Criminal Justice examines the speech of moral entrepreneurs to illustrate how our justice language encourages social control and punishment.

This book highlights how public discourse leaders (from both conservative and liberal sides) guide us toward justice solutions that do not align with our collectively professed value of "equal justice for all" through their language habits. This contextualized study of our justice...