Restorative justice has attracted increasing support world-wide, but it sits uncomfortably alongside entrenched attitudes towards punishment and retribution. Because it does not involve 'locking-up people and throwing away the key' it is not favoured reading for risk-averse politicians or the media. There are also vested interests at play which can be traced back to when the state first sought to enhance its coffers and cast victims to the side lines. As a result, the concept of 'mercy' has become largely lost, distorting relationships between victims, offenders and communities. The author argues that rediscovering mercy would lead to a more humane and purposeful form of criminal justice. His book looks at the characteristics of mercy and explains how it has become confused with mitigation and leniency. He goes on to deconstruct and analyse current theories and make proposals for reform. Long-overdue reform of contemporary criminal justice necessitates, as the author argues, a 'paradigm-shift' requiring inspired political leadership and a consensus to 'do justice better' between policy-makers, academics, jurists, criminal justice professionals and opinion-formers. The book examines the implications and challenges of such a journey and its purposes in a modern, progressive, enlightened and civilised society.

'Covers well-explored ground in a crisp, clear way which will be helpful to newcomers. His long experience at the intersection of practice and theory gives a realistic tone to his account... As an account of the place of mercy in criminal justice, it opens up a useful new area of discussion... a useful introduction to its general topic, and will set more informed readers thinking along new lines'-- Prison Service Journal; 'A comprehensive and closely argued book. The deficiencies of the present system are laid bare here but the world will remain ignorant unless they read books like Mercy': Roger Statham, Joint Secretary of the Association of retired Chief Officers and Inspectors of Probation; `This is a book for everyone concerned about the unfortunate state of our existing penal practices’: Tapio Lappi-Seppälä (from the Foreword).

David J Cornwell is an expert on prisons and also restorative justice. His several books include Criminal Punishment and Restorative Justice (2006) and the acclaimed Civilising Criminal Justice (2013) (as editor, with John Blad and Martin Wright). Foreword writer Tapio Lappi-Seppala is Director General of the National Research Institute of Legal Policy and former senior legislative adviser on criminal law in Finland's Ministry of Justice.