Martha Minow on the power of forgiveness
In her new book, “When Should Law Forgive?,” Martha Minow, the 300th Anniversary University Professor, explores the possibilities for the U.S. legal system to become less punitive and more merciful. The Gazette sat down with Minow, former dean of Harvard Law School, to talk about her book and why she thinks forgiveness could make the law more just. Q&A Martha Minow GAZETTE: How do you define forgiveness, and why it is important for the U.S. legal system to be more so? MINOW: I define forgiveness as letting go of justified grievance or resentment. Our country right now is presiding over the most incarcerating criminal justice processes in the history of the world. We have the most people incarcerated per capita. But my larger concern is that we have techniques for forgiveness built into the law, but we don’t use them consistently, and we don’t use them with any criteria of fairness. GAZETTE: In your book,...