Can Islamic Law Principles Regarding Settlement of Criminal Disputes Solve the Problem of the US Mass Incarceration?
![handle is hein.journals/pepds22 and id is 214 raw text is:
Yacoub and Briggs: U.S. Mass Incarceration
[Vol. 22: 211, 2022] U.S. Mass Incarceration
PEPPERDINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION LAW JOURNAL
Can Islamic Law Principles
Regarding Settlement of Criminal
Disputes Solve the Problem of the
US Mass Incarceration?
Amin R. Yacoub* & Becky Briggs**
Abstract
The mass incarceration crisis in the United States
remains a vexing issue to this day. Although the U.S.
incarcerated population has decreased by 25% amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, the United States remains a leading
country in the number of incarcerated people per capita.I
Focusing on Islamic law principles governing settlement in
criminal cases and the powerful role of prosecutors in
serving justice, this research argues that integrating
settlement and mediation into the U.S. criminal justice
system would significantly reduce mass incarceration in the
United States and reimagine an overly punitive approach to
. Prosecutor at the Egyptian Public Prosecution; Doctoral (SJD) Candidate at
University of Virginia School of Law; International Lawyer; Former Research
Scholar at New York University (NYU) Schoolof Law (2018); LLM in
International Law, NYU School of Law, MAHS Scholar (2018); LLM in Public
Law, Faculty of Law, Cairo University (2017); Former Associate at the
Arbitration department at Matouk Bassiouny Law Firm (2015-2016); LLB with
High Distinction and Honors, Cairo University, Faculty of Law English Section
(2015). I would like to thank Mohamed Samy El-Zomor for his insightful
comments on the Islamic Law section of this research. The authors are grateful
for the comments and edits suggested by the Editorial team of the Pepperdine
Dispute Resolution Law Journal.
** Criminal Defense Attorney licensed in Colorado, Virginia, and Federal
District Courts. J.D. Villanova, 2008; B.A. Bryn Mawr College, 2004; DSW
University of Southern California, 2019; L.L.M.,University of San Diego, 2021.
' Alexi Jones and Wendy Sawyer, New data on jail populations: The good, the
bad, and the ugly, PRISON POL'Y INITIATIVE (Mar. 17, 2021),
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2021/03/17/jails/.
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Can Islamic Law Principles Regarding Settlement of Criminal Disputes Solve the Problem of the US Mass Incarceration?
Can Islamic Law Principles Regarding Settlement of Criminal Disputes Solve the Problem of the US Mass Incarceration?