Christian voters putting faith in criminal justice reform
After a heated primary race, Tennesseans are turning their eyes toward November’s general elections. As candidates look to bring voters into their camps, they would do well to consider a surprising issue motivating the state’s Christian voters at the polls: criminal justice reform.
It’s often assumed that practicing Christians cast their ballots based on a narrow range of social issues, but survey findings challenge that premise.
A recent Barna Group survey, commissioned by Prison Fellowship, found that 74 percent of practicing Christians say a candidate’s criminal justice platform influences their vote. Seventyseven percent say their beliefs compel them to advocate in support of criminal
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justice reforms to make the system more fair, safe, and humane.
Criminal justice reform has emerged as a critical issue in races for both congressional and state-level offices across the nation. Though candidates vary in specific policy approaches, there is a broad sense that voters are demanding constructive changes to right-size the justice system.
Relying on outdated rhetoric, some politicians speak to conservative voters as though they are only interested in locking people up and throwing away the key, while others recognize that the criminal justice policies of past decades have resulted in outrageous expenditures with poor returns for society.
As voters become more aware of these failings, they question whether the justice system is cost-effective and producing safer communities, and whether it’s in line with deeply held religious and cultural values like fairness, redemption, and human dignity.
Increasingly, Christian voters are embracing the ideal of justice that restores people and communities. The Prison Fellowship/Barna survey indicated that 89 percent of practicing Christians agree that the primary goal of the criminal justice system should be restoration for all parties affected.
Broadly, a justice system focused on restoration provides for fair and proportional sentencing, respect and care for victims, a constructive prison culture, and closure for those who have paid their debt to society. In Tennessee, voters currently have opportunities to support more effective, community-oriented responses to youth who commit crimes, and promote access to secondchance opportunities for neighbors who have paid their debt to society.
Most Christian voters have a strong belief in the God-given dignity and value of each citizen — including those in the criminal justice system. They see justice reform as a moral issue with the power to sway their behavior in the voting booth, and they are looking for leaders with a vision to protect the public through values-based justice reforms that are safe, cost-effective, humane, and restorative to victims, communities, and those responsible for crime.
If criminal justice reform prevails in Tennessee’s upcoming general election, the state will join a dozen others who have led the way toward safer communities, more intact families, and a more reliable system of justice.
Craig DeRoche is the senior vice president of advocacy and public policy at Prison Fellowship, a Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families.
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