Kim Ferzan on Preventive Justice

Apr 30, 2013

Criminal justice is normally retrospective: You can only imprison someone for crimes they’ve already committed. But what should we do about individuals who clearly will pose threats in the future, even if they haven't done anything yet? Kim Ferzan wants to create a new class of preventive justice, separate from normal criminal law.

Criminal justice is normally retrospective: You can only imprison someone for crimes they’ve already committed. But what should we do about individuals who clearly will pose threats in the future, even if they haven't done anything yet?

To solve this problem, our guest today, Kim Ferzan of the Rutgers University School of Law, wants to create a new class of preventive justice, separate from normal criminal law. It would create rigorous legal standards for allowing preventive detention, among others, of individuals who have shown that they intend to cause unjustified harm.

You may also like

APR 2, 2026 Podcast

The Gaslighting of America, with Professor Mathias Risse

What is fueling the post-truth era? Why is it working? Harvard's Mathias Risse argues that gaslighting has become a dominant rhetorical force in American politics.

MAR 30, 2026 Article

A Conversation with Carnegie Ethics Fellow Harsh Suri

This conversation features Harsh Suri, CEO and co-founder of The Geostrata, a youth-led independent policy and research think tank, based in India.

Stock ticker

MAR 20, 2026 Article

Zero Introspection

The rejection of introspection and moral duties by America's business leaders—combined with an unwillingness to defend the very system that incubated their success—is ...

未翻译

此内容尚未翻译成您的语言。您可以点击下面的按钮申请翻译。

要求翻译