“What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” With Micah 6:8 as the framework, Walter Boyd, Director of Criminal Justice Initiatives, provides a summary of several criminal justice bills that have brought some positive changes for persons in the criminal justice system. more
Faith & Criminal Justice
Jesus, himself the victim of criminal injustice, calls his followers to join in liberating those who are imprisoned.
Decriminalize marijuana? The fact that over 70 municipalities have already done so may be one of the best-kept secrets in Illinois. Two years ago, PCG staff noticed a one-paragraph story in the Chicago Tribune stating that Chicago Heights had decriminalized low levels of cannabis. We decided to gather data on how many other municipalities had taken the same action. more
Prior to August 19, 2011, if a person’s RAP sheet consisted only of an arrest with no convictions s/he could petition the court to have the arrest[s] expunged, but if s/he had one conviction or more, any subsequent arrest that did not lead to a conviction could not be expunged/sealed from the person’s RAP sheet. This scenario has led to barriers in housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people based on misleading and/or misinterpreted RAP sheets. more
On Sunday, I witnessed an arrest. I had just returned to Chicago from a trip to St. Louis and the heat in the city was blistering. My apartment does not have air conditioning, and, with a heat index in the triple digits, I decided to take my dog down for a walk on the shore so that we could both find some relief in the coolness of the lake breeze. As I rounded the corner of my building, I saw blue lights in the alley—lots of blue lights. more
Acts of political courage are not all that common these days. That’s why County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s presence at a rally in downtown Chicago last Friday calling for an “End to the War on Drugs” was a singular event. more
Attorneys General and States Attorneys across the nation must think they’ve been given special selective powers by the post-resurrection Jesus. more
The so-called War on Drugs has turned the United States into a “prisoner nation” with horrendous consequences for African Americans. Pam Rodriquez, head of Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) served as staff director of the Disproportionate Justice Impact Commission Report, mandated two years ago by the Illinois General Assembly. more
Why should Christians care about drug policy? Just last week, our new Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle answered this question with a forthrightness I have rarely seen in any political leader. Holding up a copy of the book The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, President Preckwinkle stated that we as a society we are guilty of “institutional racism.” more
I f there is one thing I have believed about being a United States citizen and living in this country, it is the basic premise that all of us are innocent until proven guilty. more
“Compassion and justice are companions, not choices.”
—William Sloane Coffin, Jr.
