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Rights Limitation in Digital Age: Reform of Fair Use in Copyright Law
by Shaojun LiuThis book comprehensively discusses the effects of digital technology on the way work is disseminated and the resulting challenges concerning the fair use of copyright. It also analyzes so-called fairness by examining theories on the system of fair use, demonstrating the “system changes that will be brought about by technological changes” from the perspective of economics, i.e., the problem of modification faced by the system of fair use of copyright. Exploring the nature and function of fair use and repositioning the fair use system, the book proposes a better design for China’s system of limitation on copyright and a readjustment of the copyright system. Lastly, in addition to analyzing the reconfigurations of fair use from an economic standpoint, the book describes in detail the interactions between legal systems and cultures.
Rights, Not Interests: Resolving Value Clashes under the National Labor Relations Act
by James A. GrossThis provocative book by the leading historian of the National Labor Relations Board offers a reexamination of the NLRB and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by applying internationally accepted human rights principles as standards for judgment. These new standards challenge every orthodoxy in U.S. labor law and labor relations. James A. Gross argues that the NLRA was and remains at its core a workers’ rights statute. Gross shows how value clashes and choices between those who interpret the NLRA as a workers’ rights statute and those who contend that the NLRA seeks only a "balance" between the economic interests of labor and management have been major influences in the evolution of the board and the law. Gross contends, contrary to many who would write its obituary, that the NLRA is not dead. Instead he concludes with a call for visionary thinking, which would include, for example, considering the U.S. Constitution as a source of workers’ rights. Rights, Not Interests will appeal to labor activists and those who are trying to reform our labor laws as well as scholars and students of management, human resources, and industrial relations.
The Rights of Groups: Understanding Community in the Eyes of the Law
by Lawrence RosenArgues that a refined concept of culture can be used by American courts to better analyze cases that cover the sense of community.Supreme Court Justices frequently justify their opinions in terms of the traditions and customs of a community. Yet, the rights and interests of entities that fit neither with the state nor the individual are treated as fluid and subjective, often existing without clarity in the current legal framework. The Rights of Groups focuses on a series of specific examples to argue that a more refined concept of culture than has been employed by American courts could offer better ways to analyze a broad range of cases that employ the notion of community.Through an original reading of the Ninth Amendment, Lawrence Rosen illustrates how a constitutional consideration for group protections might be applied to decisions arising before the Supreme Court, including the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Similarly, in other chapters, Rosen shows how a revised theory of culture can change the concepts—including those of “community”—that courts currently apply, whether it is the application of indigenous concepts of value to revise the statutes governing intellectual property, the importance to native peoples that burial remains be returned to the group, the role a community can play in the responsibilities attendant on the prudent investor rule, the cultural organization of Western states’ water resources, or the implementation of a new basis for group defamation suits. The book thus concludes with a call for a more sophisticated concept of culture that can sharpen our usage of the legitimate rights and interests of those entities that fit neither with the state nor the individual.
Rights of Inclusion: Law and Identity in the Life Stories of Americans with Disabilities (Chicago Series in Law and Society)
by David M. Engel Frank W. MungerRights of Inclusion provides an innovative, accessible perspective on how civil rights legislation affects the lives of ordinary Americans. Based on eye-opening and deeply moving interviews with intended beneficiaries of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger argue for a radically new understanding of rights-one that focuses on their role in everyday lives rather than in formal legal claims. Although all sixty interviewees had experienced discrimination, none had filed a formal protest or lawsuit. Nevertheless, civil rights played a crucial role in their lives. Rights improved their self-image, enhanced their career aspirations, and altered the perceptions and assumptions of their employers and coworkers-in effect producing more inclusive institutional arrangements. Focusing on these long-term life histories, Engel and Munger incisively show how rights and identity affect one another over time and how that interaction ultimately determines the success of laws such as the ADA.
Rights of Man
by Thomas PaineThe Founding Father’s most influential work: an impassioned defense of democracy and revolution in the name of human rights.Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess. In Rights of Man, Founding Father of the United States Thomas Paine makes a compelling case in favor of the French Revolution. Written in response to Edmund Burke’s highly critical Reflections on the Revolution in France, its forceful rebuke of aristocratic rule and persuasive endorsement of self-government made it one of the most influential political statements in history. Paine asserts that human rights are not granted by the government but inherent to man’s nature. He goes on to argue that the purpose of government is to protect these natural rights, and if a government fails to do so, its people are duty-bound to revolution. Originally published in two parts, in 1791 and 1792, Rights of Man was a popular sensation in the United States, while in England, its incendiary views were seen as a threat to the Crown. For its erudite prose and rigorous argumentation, it remains a classic text of political thought. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.
Rights of Nature: A Re-examination (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Daniel P. Corrigan and Markku OksanenRights of nature is an idea that has come of age. In recent years, a diverse range of countries and jurisdictions have adopted these norms, which involve granting legal rights to nature or natural objects, such as rivers, forests, or ecosystems. This book critically examines the idea of natural objects as right-holders and analyzes legal cases, policies, and philosophical issues relating to this development. Drawing on contributions from a range of experts in the field, Rights of Nature: A Re-examination investigates the potential for this innovative idea to revolutionize the concepts of rights, standing, and recognition as traditionally understood in many legal systems. Taking as its starting point Stone’s influential 1972 article "Should Trees Have Standing?," the book examines the progress rights of nature have made since that time, by identifying central themes, unifying principles, and key distinctions in how rights of nature discourse has been operationalized in the disciplines of law, philosophy, and the social sciences. These themes and principles are illustrated through a wide variety of examples, including ecosystem services, indigenous thinking, and ecological restoration, demonstrating how the relationship between humanity and the natural world may be transforming. Taking a philosophical, political, and legal perspective, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law and policy, environmental ethics, and philosophy.
Rights of Nature in Europe: Encounters and Visions
by Jenny García Ruales Katarina Hovden Helen Kopnina Colin D. Robertson Hendrik SchoukensThis book addresses the recognition of the Rights of Nature (RoN) in Europe, examining their conceptualisation and implementation. RoN refers to a diverse set of legal developments that seek to redefine Nature's status within the law, gradually emerging as a novel template for environmental protection. Countries like Ecuador and New Zealand, each with distinct histories and ways of dwelling in the world, have pioneered a new era in environmental governance by legally acknowledging rights or personhood for nature, ecosystems, and more-than-human populations.In recent years, Europe has witnessed growing interest in RoN, with academic, legislative, and political initiatives gaining momentum. A significant development is the September 2022 passage of a law in the Spanish Parliament, granting legal personhood and rights to the Mar Menor, a saltwater lagoon severely affected by environmental degradation.Given the diversity in interpretations and articulations of ‘Rights of Nature’, this edited volume argues that their arrival in Europe fosters different kinds of interactions across distinct areas of law, knowledge, practices, and societal domains. The book employs a multidisciplinary approach, exploring these interactions in law and policy, anthropology, Indigenous worldviews and jurisprudence, philosophy, spiritual traditions, critical theory, animal communication, psychology, and social work.This book is tailored for scholars in law, political science, environmental studies, anthropology and cultural studies; as well as legal practitioners, NGOs, activists and policy-makers interested in ecology and environmental protection.
Rights of Nature in Liberal Legal Systems and International Law: Beyond Legal Anthropocentrism
by Jasper MührelRights of nature are on the rise worldwide, having already been recognized in several states, especially in Latin America and Asia. For the first time in a monograph, this book offers answers to the questions of whether and how rights of nature can also be implemented in Western liberal legal systems and in international law. It traces how the latter are characterized by a deeply rooted anthropocentrism. While at first glance this seems to make the recognition of rights of nature difficult to conceive, the book shows that in the 21st century this strong anthropocentrism is neither helpful nor irrevocable, and that non-anthropocentric approaches can already be found in liberal legal systems and in international law. Against the backdrop of the pressing environmental crises of the Anthropocene, it offers liberal and international approaches to rights of nature. In doing so, the book analyzes the compatibility of rights of nature with Western liberal and international law and deals comprehensively with the criticism and potential benefits of rights of nature in order to ultimately provide concrete proposals for their implementation.
Rights of Passage: Sidewalks and the Regulation of Public Flow (Social Justice)
by Nicholas BlomleyRights of Passage: Sidewalks and the Regulation of Public Flow documents a powerful and under-researched form of urban governance that focuses on pedestrian flow. This logic, which Nicholas Blomley terms 'pedestrianism', values public space not in terms of its aesthetic merits, or its success in promoting public citizenship and democracy. Rather, the function of the sidewalk is understood to be the promotion and facilitation of pedestrian flow and circulation, predicated on the appropriate arrangement of people and objects. This remarkably pervasive yet overlooked logic shapes the ways in which public space is regulated, conceived of, and argued about. Rights of Passage shows how the sidewalk is literally produced, encoded, rendered legible and operational with reference to a dense array of codes, diagrams, specifications, academic and professional networks, engineering rubrics, regulation and case law – all in the name of unfettered circulation. Although a powerful form of governance, pedestrianism tends to be obscured by grander and more visible forms of urban regulation. The rationality at work here may appear commonplace; but, precisely because it is uncontroversial, pedestrianism is able to operate below the academic and political radar. Complicating the prevailing tendency to focus on the socially directive nature of public space regulation, Blomley reveals the particular ways in which pedestrianism deactivates rights-based claims to public space.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill-2016
by Govt Of IndiaThe Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill-2016
Rights of the Child
by Brian MilneThis work reviews the progress of children's rights 25 years since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It studies the progress of that human rights instrument as part of an ongoing process. It examines how recent past, present and future generations will benefit or suffer as part of the process in which outcomes cannot be predicted. It does not project into the future. Its emphasis is on a review of the period after 1989 and it comments on what has happened and offering guidance on how children's rights might progress. The book presents a realistic but not always critical review of two and a half decades of intensive activity in the field of children's rights worldwide. It includes both failures and examples of good practice and positive experiences. It offers a review of progress and lack of progress in child rights and welfare in the twelve countries used as case studies in its predecessor, The Next Generation. Finally, the volume considers the impact of current geopolitical and economic realities on children's rights in the early years of the twenty-first century. The book is a tribute to Judith Ennew and pays homage to all of the people who have contributed so much to children's rights over the years and wishes to encourage others to take up the cause.
The Rights of the Child in a Changing World
by Olga Cvejić JančićThis book deals with the implementation of the rights of the child as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 21 countries from Europe, Asia, Australia, and the USA. It gives an overview of the legal status of children regarding their most salient rights, such as the implementation of the best interest principle, the right of the child to know about of his/her origin, the right to be heard, to give medical consent, the right of the child in the field of employment, religious education of children, prohibition of physical punishment, protection of the child through deprivation of parental rights and in the case of inter-country adoption. In the last 25 years since the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted, many States Parties to the Convention have made great efforts to pass legislation regulating the rights of the child, in their commitment to the improvement of the legal status of the child. However, is that enough for any child to live better, safer, and healthier? What are the practical effects of this international as well as many national instruments in the everyday life of children? Have there been any outcomes in terms of improvement of their status around the world, and improvement of the conditions under which they live, since the Convention entered into force? In tackling these questions, this work presents a comparative overview of the implementation of the Convention, and evaluates the results achieved.
Rights of the Child, Mothers and Sentencing: The Case of Kenya (Routledge Research in Human Rights Law)
by Alice Wambui MachariaThis book draws international attention to the autonomy of the child accompanying incarcerated mothers, and those they leave behind in the community, despite being dependent on the convicted caregiver. Adopting a child rights perspective, the study explores how courts could go about sentencing mothers of young children for the commission of criminal offences, whilst protecting the rights of the child as envisaged under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Drawing on the author’s experience as a sentencer in the Kenyan court and with reference to domestic, regional and international law, the book argues that children’s rights are presently left in abeyance when their mothers are sentenced to imprisonment, and that greater efforts should be made to recognize and give effect to the child’s existence as an autonomous equal holder of human rights, despite being dependent on the convicted caregiver. It explores the application of precedence as well as the court’s discretion in view of the dependent child, and concludes that policy reform in this respect calls for change in attitude and approach on women and children’s issues. Observing that internationally, most women imprisoned with their children fall beneath the custodial threshold set by law, the research examines how current sentencing practices could be reformed, and suggests harnessing the Power of Mercy Committee, the Sentencing Guidelines and progressive practices from developed countries in protecting the child’s rights by imposing non-custodial sentences for the offending mothers. It is concluded that in all jurisdictions, strict accountability for the dependent child should be situated with the judiciary, and that the same should be pronounced as a mandatory legal requirement. The book will be a valuable resource for academic, researchers and policy-makers working in the area of international children’s rights law and criminal law.
The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America
by Susan J. PearsonIn 1877, the American Humane Society was formed as the national organization for animal and child protection. Thirty years later, there were 354 anticruelty organizations chartered in the United States, nearly 200 of which were similarly invested in the welfare of both humans and animals. In The Rights of the Defenseless, Susan J. Pearson seeks to understand the institutional, cultural, legal, and political significance of the perceived bond between these two kinds of helpless creatures, and the attempts made to protect them. Unlike many of today’s humane organizations, those Pearson follows were delegated police powers to make arrests and bring cases of cruelty to animals and children before local magistrates. Those whom they prosecuted were subject to fines, jail time, and the removal of either animal or child from their possession. Pearson explores the limits of and motivation behind this power and argues that while these reformers claimed nothing more than sympathy with the helpless and a desire to protect their rights, they turned “cruelty” into a social problem, stretched government resources, and expanded the state through private associations. The first book to explore these dual organizations and their storied history, The Rights of the Defenseless will appeal broadly to reform-minded historians and social theorists alike.
Rights of the Girl Child in India: Struggle for Existence and Well-Being
by Nitu KumariThis book discusses regional and global discourses on the rights of children, especially girls. It focuses on social and government initiatives to address the marginalization of women and girls in societies across the world.It traces the root causes for the vulnerable positions of girls and women and the challenges associated with improving their access to opportunities, education, healthcare and socio-economic freedoms. It explores national and international initiatives for the welfare and development of the girl child and recent social, legal and policy developments towards uplifting vulnerable girls in largely patriarchal societies in India. It looks at debates over age and rights; the status of the girl child; the causes and consequences of being vulnerable; various aspects of welfare and protection and the cultural relativism and violation of human rights of girls and women.An important volume on human rights, this book will be of interest to students, researchers and practitioners of gender studies, sociology of the family, human rights, law and civil liberties, development studies, socio-legal studies, and sociology and social policy.
The Rights of Unaccompanied Minors: Perspectives and Case Studies on Migrant Children (Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice)
by Yvonne Vissing Sofia LeitãoThis volume explores the various challenges faced by migrant unaccompanied children, using a clinical sociological approach and a global perspective. It applies a human rights and comparative framework to examine the reception of unaccompanied children in European, North American, South American, Asian and African countries. Some of the important issues the volume discusses are: access of displaced unaccompanied children to justice across borders and juridical contexts; voluntary guardianship for unaccompanied children; the diverse but complementary needs of unaccompanied children in care, which if left unaddressed can have serious implications on their social integration in the host societies; and the detention of migrant children as analyzed against the most recent European and international human rights law standards. This is a one-of-a-kind volume bringing together perspectives from child rights policy chairs across the world on a global issue. The contributions reflect the authors’ diverse cultural contexts and academic and professional backgrounds, and hence, this volume synthesizes theory with practice through rich firsthand experiences, along with theoretical discussions. It is addressed not only to academics and professionals working on and with migrant children, but also to a wider, discerning public interested in a better understanding of the rights of unaccompanied children.
The Rights of Women
by Namita Luthra Emily J. Martin Lenora M. LapidusThe Rights of Women is a comprehensive guide that explains in detail the rights of women under present U.S. law, and how these laws can be used in the continuing struggle to achieve full gender equality at home, in the workplace, at school, and in society at large. The Rights of Women explores the concept of equal protection and covers topics including employment, education, housing, and public accommodations. This handbook also examines the specific issues of trafficking, violence against women, welfare reform, and reproductive freedom.Using a straightforward question-and-answer format while translating the law into accessible language, this volume is a tool for individuals, lawyers, and advocates seeking to assert women's rights under the law.Now in its fully revised and updated fourth edition, The Rights of Women is an invaluable guide to finding legal solutions to the most pressing issues facing women today.
The Rights of Women in Comparative Constitutional Law
by Irene Spigno Valentina Rita Scotti Janaína Lima Penalva da SilvaThrough a comparative analysis involving 13 countries from Africa, America, Asia and Europe, this book provides an invaluable assessment of women’s equality at the global level. The work focuses on formal constitutional provisions as well as the substantial level of protection women’s equality has achieved in the systems analysed. The investigations look at the relevant gender-related legislation, the participation of women in the institutional arena and the constitutional interpretation made by constitutional justice on gender issues. Furthermore, the book highlights women’s contributions in their roles as judges, parliamentarians, activists and academics, thus increasing the visibility of their participation in the public sphere. The work will be of interest to academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Constitutional Law, Comparative Law, Human Rights Law and Women’s and Gender Studies.
Rights on Trial: How Workplace Discrimination Law Perpetuates Inequality
by Ellen Berrey Laura Beth Nielson Laura Beth NielsenGerry Handley faced years of blatant race-based harassment before he filed a complaint against his employer: racist jokes, signs reading “KKK” in his work area, and even questions from coworkers as to whether he had sex with his daughter as slaves supposedly did. He had an unusually strong case, with copious documentation and coworkers’ support, and he settled for $50,000, even winning back his job. But victory came at a high cost. Legal fees cut into Mr. Handley’s winnings, and tensions surrounding the lawsuit poisoned the workplace. A year later, he lost his job due to downsizing by his company. Mr. Handley exemplifies the burden plaintiffs bear in contemporary civil rights litigation. In the decades since the civil rights movement, we’ve made progress, but not nearly as much as it might seem. On the surface, America’s commitment to equal opportunity in the workplace has never been clearer. Virtually every company has antidiscrimination policies in place, and there are laws designed to protect these rights across a range of marginalized groups. But, as Ellen Berrey, Robert L. Nelson, and Laura Beth Nielsen compellingly show, this progressive vision of the law falls far short in practice. When aggrieved individuals turn to the law, the adversarial character of litigation imposes considerable personal and financial costs that make plaintiffs feel like they’ve lost regardless of the outcome of the case. Employer defendants also are dissatisfied with the system, often feeling “held up” by what they see as frivolous cases. And even when the case is resolved in the plaintiff’s favor, the conditions that gave rise to the lawsuit rarely change. In fact, the contemporary approach to workplace discrimination law perversely comes to reinforce the very hierarchies that antidiscrimination laws were created to redress. Based on rich interviews with plaintiffs, attorneys, and representatives of defendants and an original national dataset on case outcomes, Rights on Trial reveals the fundamental flaws of workplace discrimination law and offers practical recommendations for how we might better respond to persistent patterns of discrimination.
Rights, Race, and Reform: 50 Years of Child Advocacy in the Juvenile Justice System
by Kristin Henning Laura Cohen Ellen MarrusIn 1962, a 15-year-old Arizona boy named Gerald Gault may or may not have made a lewd phone call to a neighbor. Gerald was arrested, prosecuted, removed from his parents’ custody, and sent to a juvenile prison, all without legal representation. Gerald’s mother’s outrage at the treatment of her son eventually propelled the case to the United States Supreme Court. With its sweeping 1967 decision in In re Gault, the Court revolutionized the American juvenile court system by finding that children charged with delinquency have a constitutional right to counsel. This anthology, which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Gault decision, blends, across its three parts, legal and historical analyses, oral history, and personal narrative to provide an overview of modern Supreme Court juvenile justice jurisprudence, the advocates and organizations that defend children in juvenile court, the role these lawyers have played in the fight for justice for accused children, and the contemporary challenges facing juvenile defenders and their clients. The authors are leading juvenile justice reformers, advocates, and scholars, all of whom have been deeply involved in shaping modern juvenile justice policy and practice and most of whom have represented children in juvenile court. This book is for everyone concerned about justice in America. The personal narratives about children in the system will intrigue students and academics, engage lay individuals who are interested in children’s rights, and guide professionals, legislators, and other policymakers involved in juvenile justice reform and criminology.
Rights, Religious Pluralism and the Recognition of Difference: Off the Scales of Justice
by Dorota Anna GozdeckaHuman rights and their principles of interpretation are the leading legal paradigms of our time. Freedom of religion occupies a pivotal position in rights discourses, and the principles supporting its interpretation receive increasing attention from courts and legislative bodies. This book critically evaluates religious pluralism as an emerging legal principle arising from attempts to define the boundaries of freedom of religion. It examines religious pluralism as an underlying aspect of different human rights regimes and constitutional traditions. It is, however, the static and liberal shape religious pluralism has assumed that is taken up critically here. In order to address how difference is vulnerable to elimination, rather than recognition, the book takes up a contemporary ethics of alterity. More generally, and through its reconstruction of a more difference-friendly vision of religious pluralism, it tackles the problem of the role of rights in the era of diverse narratives of emancipation.
The Rights Revolution: Lawyers, Activists, and Supreme Courts in Comparative Perspective
by Charles R. EppIt is well known that the scope of individual rights has expanded dramatically in the United States over the last half-century. Less well known is that other countries have experienced "rights revolutions" as well. Charles R. Epp argues that, far from being the fruit of an activist judiciary, the ascendancy of civil rights and liberties has rested on the democratization of access to the courts—the influence of advocacy groups, the establishment of governmental enforcement agencies, the growth of financial and legal resources for ordinary citizens, and the strategic planning of grass roots organizations. In other words, the shift in the rights of individuals is best understood as a "bottom up," rather than a "top down," phenomenon.The Rights Revolution is the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the growth of civil rights, examining the high courts of the United States, Britain, Canada, and India within their specific constitutional and cultural contexts. It brilliantly revises our understanding of the relationship between courts and social change.
Rights, Risk and Restraint-Free Care of Older People
by Edited by Rhidian HughesThe restraint of older people is a pressing issue for health and social care practice. This book provides health and social care professionals with an authoritative reading resource on the ethics and use of restraint. The book provides an overview of the different forms of restraint, the conditions under which they are used, and their implications for the health and wellbeing of older people. Practical approaches to minimising are then explored, underlining the importance of person-centred care. Innovative programmes and approaches to reducing the use of restraint from around the world are described and assessed, and case studies are drawn upon to highlight practice challenges and their effective resolutions. The perspectives of older people and their carers and families, as well as of professionals, commissioners and regulators of health and social care, are also taken into account. The contributors are drawn from an international range of health and social care settings, as well as from the academic world. This in-depth volume will help health and social care professionals better understand the complex issues that surround the use of restraint, support practice that puts older people at the centre of decision-making about their care, and enable services to provide safer and more appropriate care.
Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, and Wastes Billions
by Richard HarrisAn award-winning science journalist pulls the alarm on the dysfunction plaguing scientific research--with lethal consequences for us allAmerican taxpayers spend $30 billion annually funding biomedical research. By some estimates, half of the results from these studies can't be replicated elsewhere-the science is simply wrong. Often, research institutes and academia emphasize publishing results over getting the right answers, incentivizing poor experimental design, improper methods, and sloppy statistics. Bad science doesn't just hold back medical progress, it can sign the equivalent of a death sentence. How are those with breast cancer helped when the cell on which 900 papers are based turns out not to be a breast cancer cell at all? How effective could a new treatment for ALS be when it failed to cure even the mice it was initially tested on? In Rigor Mortis, award-winning science journalist Richard F. Harris reveals these urgent issues with vivid anecdotes, personal stories, and interviews with the nation's top biomedical researchers. We need to fix our dysfunctional biomedical system-now.
Rikers: An Oral History
by Graham Rayman Reuven BlauA shocking, groundbreaking oral history of the infamous Rikers jail complex and an unflinching portrait of injustice and resilience told by the people whose lives have been forever altered by it &“This mesmerizing and gut-wrenching book shows the brutal realities that tens of thousands of people have been forced to navigate, and survive, in America&’s most notorious jail.&”—Piper Kerman, New York Times bestselling author of Orange is the New BlackWhat happens when you pack almost a dozen jails, bulging at the seams with society&’s cast-offs, onto a spit of landfill purposefully hidden from public view? Prize-winning journalists Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau have spent two years interviewing more than 130 people comprising a broad cross section of lives touched by New York City's Rikers Island prison complex—from incarcerated people and their relatives, to officers, lawyers, and commissioners, with stories spanning the 1970s to the present day. The portrait that emerges calls into question the very nature of justice in America. Offering a 360-degree view inside the country&’s largest detention complex, the deeply personal accounts—featured here for the first time—take readers on a harrowing journey into every corner of Rikers, a failed society unto itself that reflects society&’s failings as a whole. Dr. Homer Venters was shocked by the screams on his first day working at Rikers: &“They&’re in solitary, just yelling . . . the yelling literally never stops.&” After a few months, though, Dr. Venters notes, one's ears adjust to the sounds. Nestor Eversley recalls how detainees made weapons from bones. Barry Campbell recalls hiding a razor blade in his mouth—&“just in case&”. These are visceral stories of despair, brutality, resilience, humor, and hope, told by the people who were marooned on the island over the course of decades. As calls to shutter jails and reduce the number of incarcerated people grow louder across the country, with the movement to close the island complex itself at the forefront, Rikers is a resounding lesson about the human consequences of the incarceration industry.