Longtime criminal justice worker Zehr became a creative exponent of restorative justice, which focuses first on crime victims and their self-defined needs and second on bringing offenders to understand and take responsibility for the harm they have done, after concluding that current U.S. criminal justice systems ignored victims. This book of testimonies and photographs of some direct victims of crime and many spouses, parents, children, and siblings of victims responds primarily to the prime focus of restorative justice, though the secondary focus comes up in the statements of several persons who have met or want to meet their or their loved ones' attackers. Zehr says he hasn't editorially skewed the depositions, and apart from lacking verbal tics and bad spoken grammar, they ring utterly true. Most subjects report how crucial their religious faith was to dealing successfully with the rage, despair, and brokenness that engulfed them, and many remark how poorly the courts, in particular, served them. Moving and awe-inspiring, this is very high-order advocacy literature.
Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From the Back Cover
"This book is a powerful wake-up call.”
“These beautifully written, moving stories communicate powerfully the depth and complexity of every victim’s individual experience with crime. Each profile not only reminds us why we should listen to victims, but challenges us to embrace a new vision of justice. “Howard Zehr has given us a book with truth and wisdom on every page.” — Susan Herman, Executive Director, National Center for Victims of Crime, Arlington, Virginia
“This book is essential reading. I defy anyone who reads this book to remain indifferent to the issues it raises. I applaud Dr. Zehr’s efforts to bring clarity to this process by offering victims a chance to tell fully their side of the story. “This book is a powerful wake-up call on so many levels. We no longer have an excuse for avoiding the issues this book raises. I hope it can be used to enlighten, inform, and encourage discourse about the kind of society we want to inhabit.” — Tom Kennedy, The Washington Post (former Editor of Photography for National Geographic)
“Howard Zehr did something not enough of us takes the time to do—he listened to victims about what they need. That is where justice reform and victim services should begin. “Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims should be mandatory reading for anyone with an interest in justice, especially politicians, advocates, judges—and anyone who works with victims.” — Steve Sullivan, President of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, Ottawa, Ontario
“This book is a graphic acknowledgment that crime can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime, at any place. It is also an elegant reminder that none of us knows how we will react to our own victimization or that of other people, and that each of us has our own vision of what justice truly means.” — Cheryl Guidry Tyiska, Director of Victim Services, National Organization for Victim Assistance, Washington, D.C.
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