"Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox demonstrate the need for experimentation—trial and error—in developing successful problem-solving programs. Their voice stands in sharp contrast to the bombastic cries and exaggerated claims of most so-called reformers."
—Malcolm M. Feeley, Author, Court Reform on Trial and The Process is the Punishment, and Claire Sanders Clements Professor Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program, Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
"This provocative book charts a promising path for criminal justice reform in this country. I can think of no other book like it, and I urge front-line practitioners, policymakers, and scholars to read it. As the nation faces severe budget cuts, the lessons learned from past failures seem more important than ever."
—Joan Petersilia, Adelbert H. Sweet Professor of Law, Stanford University Law School
"Peter Drucker once observed that Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times—but also hit 714 home runs. We needn't be discouraged by Berman and Fox's findings; in fact, there's probably more to learn by diagnosing and embracing and learning from failure than in thinking we can easily or glibly replicate success. At a time when clarity and transparency and trust are so lacking and so needed in policy and politics, this book can help us all see more clearly the seeds of failure and the ingredients necessary for clear-eyed and sustainable success in criminal justice reform that really works."
—Ira A. Jackson, Henry Y. Hwang Dean and Professor of Management, Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University
"Free of jargon and ideology, Trial and Error in Criminal Justice Reform: Learning from Failure offers a valuable contribution to the continuing discussion and debate about crime and what to do about it. It's an informed and realistic contemporary review of what reform efforts can, and cannot, achieve. It's not only a good read but a must read."
—Bill Bratton, Former Commissioner, New York and Los Angeles Police Departments
"This is a marvelous book, richly grounded in the literature on
innovation but also sharply focused on the practice. Everyone knows
that the practice of innovation advances as much through failure as success—but an understandable conspiracy of silence usually obscures this. Here, the messy and often ambiguous results of innovation are faced up to honestly. I only hope that this book can be replicated with as much wisdom and insight in many other fields."
—Geoff Mulgan, Author, The Art of Public Strategy: Mobilizing Power and Knowledge for the Common Good (Oxford University Press), and Executive Director, The Young Foundation
