New from New York University Press:
Mea Culpa: Lessons on Law and Regret from U.S. History (Jan. 2015), by
Steven W. Bender (Seattle University School of Law). A description from the Press:
In Mea Culpa, Steven W. Bender examines how the United
States’ collective shame about its past has shaped the evolution of law
and behavior. We regret slavery and segregationist Jim Crow laws. We
eventually apologize, while ignoring other oppressions, and our legal
response to regret often fails to be transformative for the affected
groups. By examining policies and practices that have affected the lives
of
groups that have been historically marginalized and oppressed, Bender is
able to draw persuasive connections between shame and its eventual
legal
manifestations. Analyzing the United States’ historical response to its
own atrocities, Bender identifies and develops a definitive moral
compass that
guides us away from the policies and practices that lead to societal
regret.
Mea Culpa challenges its readers. In a different era, might
we have been slave owners or proprietors of a racially segregated
establishment? It’s easy to judge immorality in the hindsight of
history, but what current practices and policies will later generations
regret?
More than a historical survey, this volume offers a framework for
resolving some of the most contentious social
problems of our time. Drawing on his background as a legal scholar,
Bender tackles immigration, the death penalty, the war on terror,
reproductive rights,
welfare, wage inequity, homelessness, mass incarceration, and same-sex
marriage. Ultimately, he argues, it is the dehumanization of human
beings that
allows for practices to occur that will later be marked as regrettable.
And all of us have a stake in standing on the side of history that
resists dehumanization.
A blurb of note:
"A fascinating book that explores how American
government has come to adopt policies that it regards in hindsight with
great regret. Bender does a superb job of exploring both historical and
current regrettable decisions and shows that they are all based on
dehumanizing others. He offers a path forward based on a law founded on
compassion. Through powerful examples and clear writing, Bender has
written a book that is profound in its observations and conclusions and
that deserves a wide readership."
—Erwin Chemerinsky
More information is available
here.
