This is a very good book. I especially liked the historical framing Dr. Davis presents of how prisons came to exist, and the general overview of alternatives to prisons for the crimes people are currently incarcerated for.

However, I was frustrated that the book doesn't address the question I read it to learn more about. She mentions at the end the persistent question of "What to do with the murderers and rapists?" and declines to answer it, but I would have appreciated at least a sentence on what alternatives prison abolitionists offer, similar to the alternatives she talks about for drug addicts, the mentally ill, etc. (She gives an example of repentant murderers who successfully reconcile with their victim's family; this is a great story about the power of reconciliatory justice, but doesn't seem like a good model for dealing with, say, an unrepentant rapist.) This book is very general in scope, and I know Dr. Davis couldn't include everything, but I would have appreciated at least a citation to a book or article that addresses this.