"The Minimalist Alternative to Abolitionism: Focusing on the Non-dangerous Many"

The title of this post is the title of this new essay authored by Christopher Slobogin now available via SSRN.  Here is its abstract:

In The Dangerous Few: Taking Prison Abolition and Its Skeptics Seriously, published in the Harvard Law Review, Thomas Frampton proffers four reasons why those who want to abolish prisons should not budge from their position even for offenders who are considered dangerous.  This essay demonstrates why a criminal law minimalist approach to prisons and police is preferable to abolition, not just when dealing with the dangerous few but also as a means of protecting the nondangerous many.  A minimalist regime can radically reduce reliance on both prisons and police, without the loss in crime prevention capacity and legitimacy that is likely to come with abolition.

Prior related post:

• "The Dangerous Few: Taking Seriously Prison Abolition and Its Skeptics"