Justice through Apologies

In his sensational 2008 book I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies, Nick Smith explored the apology as one of the most elusive, deeply philosophical, and socially complex human exchanges. In this long-awaited follow-up, Smith digs deeper into the question of what it means to be sorry as he examines the role of apology, apathy, and penalty in the criminal justice system.

Justice through Apologies delves further into the social intricacy of the words “I’m sorry” by tracing the complex history of penance and punishment. By examining the root of the original penitentiaries in the desire to bring about a convict’s eventual penance, Smith demonstrates how that tradition has been lost in the assembly line of modern mass incarceration. Smith argues that the state should modernize these principles and techniques, reducing punishments for offenders who demonstrate moral transformation through apologizing.

Smith also describes the counterintuitive situation whereby apologies have come to have considerable financial worth in civil cases because victims associate them with priceless matters of the soul. Such confusions allow powerful wrongdoers to manipulate perceptions to disastrous effect, such as when corporations or governments assert that apologies do not equate to accepting blame or require reform or redress. By studying both sides of the apology in criminal justice—as a sincerely felt indicator of a criminal’s reform and as a tool to manipulate the system—Justice through Apologies offers a new and compelling way of understanding apology.

Publisher's Note: This is not the finished version. Please check with the publisher or refer to the finished book whenever you are excerpting or quoting in a review.