NCJ Number
93464
Date Published
1983
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The Christian community is uniquely capable of providing solutions to many problems in the criminal justice system.
Abstract
Just as New Testament imperatives -- feed the hungry, care for widows and orphans -- have been largely turned over to government agencies, moral behaviors have increasingly become the domain of secular authority. At the same time, the lack of confidence in governmental approaches to problemsolving in American society enhances the potential success for private citizen assistance and reform efforts. For example, teams of church members can be trained to intervene in family and community disagreements, keeping such problems out of police business and off court dockets. While both the Old and New Testaments chronicle a wide variety of crimes as well as the punishment for transgressions, the modern church needs to offer compassion and understanding to those involved in criminal behavior. Church groups can deal with juvenile runaways, truants, and public inebriates, among others. Truancy and delinquency can be prevented or solved through church programs which provide tutoring and constructive activities with a desirable peer group. Alternatives to prosecution are also possible through the auspices of the Christian community: offender/victim arbitration, restitution administration, counseling, job assistance, and emotional and spiritual support. Church groups could also offer private sector probation. Although church groups have a long tradition of providing worship services in jails and prisons, perhaps a greater need is in ministry and support for the families of offenders and for offenders when they complete their setences.