"The Power of Parsimony" The title of this post is the title of this notable new report authored by Daryl Atkinson and Jeremy Travis as part of Columbia University’s Square One Project. The whole report looks like a must-read, and here is the start and close of its introduction: As our country comes to terms with the damage caused by our excessive reliance on punishment as a response to crime, the use of the criminal law to sustain racial hierarchies, and the ways the justice system has undermined our democracy and weakened communities, we must ask: what principles should guide this fundamental reexamination of a seemingly immovable status quo? In this paper we propose that the principle of parsimony — if re-considered while recognizing the historical racist underpinnings of the American criminal legal system — can provide a framework that serves as both critique of that history and an elevating aspiration for a reimagined approach to justice.