Kim Ferzan on Preventive Justice

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.