According to the book description of Beyond Vengeance and Retribution, “America's criminal justice system starts with the assumption that people freely choose to behave in anti-social ways, and meets out degrees of punishment commensurate with the seriousness of the offense, with consideration of previous infractions. This approach has been largely unsuccessful, producing high rates of recidivism even as we incarcerate more criminals than any other nation in the world. The failure may lie in the fact that we made philosophical assumptions about the nature of man and behavior that are inaccurate, and designed a system based on errant assumptions. Instead of arguing about philosophy, we might do better to look at what science can tell us about human behavior. We could then modify our approach based on what we know from science, rather than what we believe from philosophy. Our focus can then shift from anger and revenge for the evil that was done, to changing people and protecting society.”