"Social Justice and Social Policy" is a new and hopefully regular section of Crime and Social Justice. Each of us has no doubt been asked -- by students in our classrooms, by friends in our living room, by activists in our community, and by government and media representatives -- for solutions and progressive alternatives to the very real problems of crime and punishment. As Bertram Gross suggests in the following article, we have not done a good job in responding to these questions.

The poor, especially racial and national minorities, are seriously victimized by "street" crime. What alternatives do we propose to the reactionary policies of "law and order"? One-half of the population does not have the freedom to come and go as they please because of the very real threat of rape and sexual assault. What is our position on the punishment of rapists and batterers? Groups like the Guardian Angels have polarized many people as to the effectiveness of community policing. What is our position and why? The U.S. Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crimes has recommended the appropriation of $2 billion to subsidize prison construction. Do progressive criminologists have a solution to the penal crisis? The overwhelming majority of sentencing studies published in the 1970s report systematic discrimination against the poor and minorities. How do we propose to combat institutionalized discrimination and racism in the criminal justice system?

These are a few examples of the very, very difficult questions that progressive criminologists have not adequately addressed. We welcome your contributions to this section of the journal.