Offenders and Faith

The Bible speaks of God's concern for prisoners. What does this mean for people of faith? What do biblical teachings say about offenders' past life and expectations for the future? These articles explore the connection between offenders and faith.

Victims and victimizers

"We as society do not allow people to be victim and victimizer --- they are one or the other," said Suzanne Neuhaus, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation victims' services specialist.

Marshall, Dr. Chris. Prison, Prisoners and the Bible

ere are few issues that evoke such powerful emotional responses in the community as crime and punishment. For many people, fear of crime is second only to fear of death. In many ways, crime is a kind of death, for, like death, crime can enter person’s life at any time, destroy forever their sense of safety and security, and leave a legacy of anxiety and mistrust. Politicians know this all too well. ey know how much people worry about crime, or can be made to worry about crime, and, quite cynically at times, exploit this worry for their own sectional advantage. Such worry is magnified out of all proportion by selective and sensationalist coverage of crime in the mass media. Even though reported crime rates in New Zealand have fallen steadily in recent years, even though our murder rate has been largely static over the last decade, even though much more violence occurs in the family home than on the streets, media concentration on a few high profile and particularly nasty crimes feeds a general perception that crime is spiralling out of all control and that one’s chances of being attacked, raped or murdered are much greater today than ever before.2 In many ways, then, we live in an age of anxiety. Despite that fact that average living standards have never been higher, life expectancy has never been longer, and individual freedoms have never been more protected than they are today, a general climate of insecurity pervades many sections of society. (excerpt)

Rigdon, Raymond m.. Restorative Justice Ministry in a Correctional Setting. Study Guide.

This study guide provides information for individuals seeking to work in Christian volunteers working in the prison setting. The manual covers working with prison staff, prisoners and victims.

Smith, Roberta and Smith, Harold. EXODUS: A Working Image for Restorative Justice Ministry

The authors describe a restorative justice ministry - EXODUS - for inmates in the state of New York. It can lead inmates to repentance, conversion, and personal transformation. Restorative justice/prison ministries at their core are about relationships that build up the possibility for such transformation inside the walls and after the gates close behind the parolee.

Sedgwick, Peter. Rethinking sentencing: a contribution to the debate.

For all these reasons it is appropriate that another report should be commissioned by the Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council. Rethinking Sentencing shows how the debate on the future of sentencing will affect all our lives, from the referral panel helping young offenders make reparation to their victims to the issues of social inclusion, civic renewal and zero tolerance for antisocial behaviour. There is one chapter on prisons, but its emphasis is on how life in prison contributes to a loss of responsibility among prisoners. The report shows how churches are involved with issues of criminal justice across the country, and how such topics as punishment, reparation and healing raise profound theological questions. How we pass sentence on another through the agency of the courts and the bodies that express restorative justice is inevitably a deeply searching issue for Christians. (excerpt)

Peters, Carol Anderson. Transforming and Restorative Justice and the Churches, vol. 1: Creating Healing Environments in Prisons

Psychological and spiritual healing techniques inform the creation of healing environments in prisons that promote moral and social development in inmates, and the healing of shame, the source of much problematic behavior. (excerpt)

Kirkegaard, Hugh. Restorative Justice and the Halfway House: Where Hope and History Rhyme?

This article in Coast to Coast was first presented by the Reverend Hugh Kirkegaard as an address at the 30th anniversary annual general meeting of St. Leonard’s Society (Hamilton), on June 10, 2002. As Kirkegaard observes, restorative justice and halfway houses can easily be folded into existing justice structures. This could easily lead to the "co-option" of restorative justice and halfway houses. One of the challenges in this work, then, is to guard against the deflection of these reform efforts in the interests of "convenience." With this in mind, Kirkegaard characterizes the restorative justice work of St. Leonard’s and other like organizations in terms of a prophetic role (from the Old Testament of the Bible) in the justice and corrections systems, and he casts a restorative vision to undergird and sustain this work.