Based on the understanding that traditional forms of justice are characterized by ‘affective authoritarianism’, Lawrence W Sherman has argued that a new system of emotionally intelligent justice is needed to nurture the expression of positive, beneficial emotions; and to control negative, detrimental ones. The policy approach advocated to advance this progressive agenda of penal reform involves critical theory, institutional innovation and empirical research focused primarily on the alternative paradigm of restorative justice. Irrespective of the ‘truth’ or ‘fairness’ of emotionally intelligent justice, this article argues that, because emotions are constructed through socio-cultural circumstances and are integral to ethical judgements which legitimize traditional forms of justice in contemporary public life, managing emotions in criminal justice settings requires reform that is not only critical and experimental, but also public and popular.