The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church condemn the "torture
of persons by governments for any purpose" and assert that it violates
Christian teachings. The church, through its Social Principles, further
declares, "We oppose capital punishment and urge its elimination from
all criminal codes" (164A).
After a moratorium of a full decade, the use of the
death penalty in the United States has resumed. Other western nations
have largely abolished it during the twentieth century. But a rapidly
rising rate of crime and an even greater increase in the fear of crime has
generated support within the American society for the institution of death
as the punishment for certain forms of homicide. It is now being asserted,
as it was often in the past, that capital punishment would deter criminals
and would protect law-abiding citizens.
The United Methodist Church cannot accept retribution or social vengeance
as a reason for taking human life. It violates our deepest belief in
God as the Creator and the Redeemer of humankind. In this respect, there
can be no assertion that human life can be taken humanely by the state. Indeed,
in the long run, the use of the death penalty by the state will increase the
acceptance of revenge in our society and will give official sanction to a climate
of violence.
The United Methodist Church is deeply concerned about the present high rate
of crime in the United States and about the value of a life taken in murder
or homicide. When another life is taken through capital punishment, the
life of the victim is further devalued. Moreover, the church is convinced
that the use of the death penalty would result in neither a net reduction of
crime in general nor a lessening of the particular kinds of crime against which
it was directed. Homicide - the crime for which the death penalty has
been used almost exclusively in recent decades - increased far less than other
major crimes during the period of the moratorium. Progressively rigorous
scientific studies, conducted over more than forty years, overwhelmingly failed
to support the thesis that capital punishment deters homicide more effectively
than does imprisonment. The most careful comparisons of homicide rates
in similar states with and without use of the death penalty, and also of homicide
rates in the same state in periods with and without it, have found as many
or slightly more criminal homicides in states with use of the death penalty.
The death penalty also falls unfairly and unequally upon an outcast minority. Recent
methods for selecting the few persons sentenced to die from among the larger
number who are convicted of comparable offenses have not cured the arbitrariness
and discrimination that have historically marked the administration of capital
punishment in this country.
The United Methodist Church is convinced that the nation's leaders should
give attention to the improvement of the total criminal justice system and
to the elimination of social conditions that breed crime and cause disorder,
rather than foster a false confidence in the effectiveness of the death penalty.
The United Methodist Church declares its opposition to the retention and
use of capital punishment in any form or carried out by any means; the church
urges the abolition of capital punishment.
The international portions of The United Methodist Church are deeply grieved
by the use of the death penalty in the United States. United Methodists
in central conferences and people in the autonomous Methodist churches deplore
this fact and are embarrassed by this immoral practice in many states in
the United States. The international conscience is mobilizing to condemn
this cruel practice and targets the United States as "an enemy of civilized
people" in their protests.
(1) Congregations,
districts, conferences, and ecumenical coalitions in sovereign nations and
lesser political entities where the death penalty is currently practiced
are called to take overt action to change the laws and social conditions
which produce this violent act.
(2) Persons
and groups who take this moral issue into the public arena (such as addressing
elected officials, vigils, letter-writing campaigns, paid advertising, and
other responsible direct action) will be supported by the church.
(3) The General
Boards of Global Ministries and Church and Society and their affiliates throughout
the denomination and ecumenical partnerships are called to develop strategies
of education and political action to overcome the evil of capital punishment.
(4) The global
scope of the protest summons the people of the church to seriously oppose
this abhorrent practice, and for United Methodist persons to incorporate
this protest into their personal social conscience.
(5) The United
Methodist Church commends the people who have provided moral judgment, prophetic
insight, pastoral care for those who suffer from this practice, and have
borne the pain of hostility and indifference to this advocacy.
As The United Methodist Church moves into the
2001-2004 quadrennium, we reaffirm the 1996 General Conference mandate which
led to a program of restorative justice ministries and recommend that the
church continue to support and strengthen this new ministry. We recommend
the following:
(6) that the
Restorative Justice Ministries Global Coordinating Committee continue to
give guidance and oversight to the operation of the Restorative Justice Ministries
Office with each board/agency providing the funds for directors and staff
to participate in meetings;
(7) that the
General Conference provide the financial resources to support a Restorative
Justice Ministries Office of The United Methodist Church in the amount of
$200,000/year;
(8) that the
General Board of Global Ministries provide resources to annual and central
conferences to enable them to develop restorative justice ministries with
victims, offenders, prisoners, their families, and communities;
(9) that the
General Board of Global Ministries provide funding to enable the assignment
of missionaries, including youth and young adults, to serve in restorative
justice ministries with victims, offenders, prisoners, and communities;
(10) that the General Board of Global
Ministries provide funding to support gatherings of United Methodists working
in the fields of criminal justice, community corrections, and restorative
justice. The events will be focused on the relationship between faith
and work and will be planned and carried out by the Restorative Justice Ministries
Office;
(11) that the General Board of Global
Ministries provide funding to enable the Restorative Justice Ministries Office
to organize four global consultations on restorative justice to be held in
central conferences, bringing together United Methodist leaders from across
the globe who are using restorative justice ministry strategies and techniques
to transform and resolve social, political, religious, economic, racial,
and ethnic conflicts and end violence within their churches and communities;
(12) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office work with annual and central conferences and their ecumenical,
interfaith, and community partners to develop victim offender reconciliation
programs and neighborhood conflict resolution programs based on restorative
justice ministries models to serve the church and community;
(13) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office, in consultation with annual and central conferences, continue
to organize training events in restorative justice ministries;
(14) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office continue to work to evaluate and identify model programs
of restorative justice ministries and develop the network for these ministries;
(15) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office work with the boards and agencies to develop written resources
to assist the church in their work in these ministries;
(16) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office work with the Women's
Division, as requested, in their 2002 Schools of Christian Mission Study
on Restorative Justice;
(17) that the General Board of Discipleship
work with the Restorative Justice Ministries Office to develop print
and training resources for local churches, including Sunday School resources,
to use as they embrace restorative justice ministries. This directive
includes: the development of resources and training for reconciling parents
and youth offenders; the development of small group resources that support
victim and offender reconciliation; and the provision of material for small
groups that wish to explore restorative justice issues within the local church;
(18) that the General Board of Discipleship
work with the Restorative Justice Ministries Office to explore the development
of a training and certification process for laity and local church pastors
carrying out restorative justice ministries;
(19) that the General Board of Higher
Education and Ministry continue to provide certification for chaplains and
explore the development of certification for others interested in professional
ministry with restorative justice ministries;
(20) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office work with United Methodist seminaries, through the General
Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the General Board of Global Ministries,
to promote curriculum and practicum offerings in United Methodist seminaries
in areas of violence, crime, and criminal justice from a restorative justice
perspective;
(21) the United Methodist Men work
to develop ministries with prisoners, offenders, and victims through DISCIPLE
Bible Study and other programs of The United Methodist Church;
(22) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office develop a group of United Methodist trained mediators who
can respond to conflicts in the community and who can assist in training
other United Methodists to serve as mediators in their communities; and
(23) that the Restorative Justice
Ministries Office develop a quarterly newsletter to provide information and
updates on new developments in restorative justice ministries around the
world to serve The United Methodist Church.
When we are faithful in discipleship, we are transformed and we become
agents of healing and systemic change. Restorative Justice Ministries
of The United Methodist Church has provided our church with a tremendous
opportunity to become those agents of healing and change. Restorative
justice enables us to become more deeply engaged in ministries with victims,
offenders, and grassroots communities. Restorative justice renews ours
Wesleyan spirit as we seek to carry out the gospel of remembering, truth
telling, repenting, and forgiving so that we might become a community of
faith and faithfulness, healed and transformed.
It must be remembered that the advice "Let every person be subject
to the governing authorities" (Romans 13:1 NRSV) is preceded by ALive
in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;
never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for
what is noble in the sight of all" (Romans
12:16-17 NRSV). The admonition is directed to the authorities who govern
as well as those who may be subject.
The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church state (164B and F):
"The church should continually exert a strong ethical influence upon the
state,
supporting policies and programs deemed to be just and opposing policies
and programs that are unjust .... In the love of Christ, who came to save
those who are lost and vulnerable, we urge the creation of a genuinely new
system for the care and restoration of victims, offenders, criminal justice
officials, and the community as a whole."
The Police
In a democratic society, the police fill a position of extraordinary trust
and power. Usually the decision of whether a citizen is to be taken
into custody rests solely with the police. For these reasons, law enforcement
officers must be persons who possess good judgment, sound discretion, proper
temperament, and are physically and mentally alert.
Unusual care must be exercised in the selection of those persons to serve
as police officers. We recommend psychological testing prior to employment
of police officers and periodically thereafter. During the period of
training and continually thereafter, police must be instilled with the knowledge
that the rights of many will never be secured if the government, through
it police powers, is permitted to prefer some of its citizens over others. The
practice of citizen preference in the enforcement of our criminal laws must
not be tolerated. Our laws must be fairly enforced and impartially
administered. No one is immune from the requirements of the law because
of power, position, or economic station in life. Further, the power
of the police must never be used to harass and provoke the young, the poor,
the unpopular, and the members of racial and cultural minorities.
Where there is heavy pressure upon police officers by police departments
to regularly make a large number of arrests as a demonstration of their initiative
and professional performance, we urge that such practice be discontinued.
In a democratic society, however, a large majority of police work encompasses
peacekeeping and social services rather than crime control functions. Police
routinely use more than 85 percent of their duty time in giving assistance
to citizens and making referrals to other governmental agencies. It
is important for police to be recognized and promoted for their effectiveness
in such roles as diverting youths from disorderly activities, peacefully
intervening in domestic quarrels, anticipating disturbances through the channeling
of grievances, and the building of good community relationships.
The United Methodist Church recommends that police departments publicly
establish standards of police conduct and policies for promotion. To
this end, congregations should encourage the police to conduct public hearings
among all classes of citizens, giving adequate weight to peacekeeping, life-protecting,
and other service roles, as well as the bringing of criminal offenders to
justice. The standards must include strict limits on the police use
of guns.
We further recommend that police officers live within the jurisdiction
in which they are employed.
We make these recommendations not only in concern about the frequent abuses
of people by the police, but also because we are concerned for more effective
control of crime. We observe that only about one half the victims of
serious crime, and a far smaller proportion of witnesses, report to the police. If
offenders are to be apprehended and convicted, police and law-abiding citizens
must work closely together. Such cooperation can occur only when the
police are fair and humane and when they are publicly known to be sensitive
and considerate.
The United Methodist Church urges that communities establish adequate salary
scales for police officers and develop high standards for recruiting both
men and women, and members of all ethnic groups. Recruitment must be
followed by adequate training in social relations and dispute settlement
as well as in law and the skills of crime detection investigation and the
apprehension of offenders. As police officers continue to meet those
improved qualifications, we will recognize law enforcement as a profession
with status and respect.
Criminal Laws and the Courts
Restorative justice practices should be utilized within the community as
a first response to any criminal behavior. Justice can only prevail
when there is healing of the victim, repentance of the offender, and when
forgiveness and reconciliation are shared throughout the community. Victim-offender
mediation, family group conferencing, and various other restorative justice
techniques are urged to be considered as an alternative to the criminal courts.
Overwhelmingly, criminal convictions are by guilty pleas, a large proportion
of those by plea bargaining. Where the law recognizes and permits plea-bargaining,
and in those instances where the ends of justice dictate that a renegotiated
plea be considered, we recommend it should be permitted and approved only
after full disclosure in open court of the terms and conditions of such plea-bargaining
agreement. Equal justice requires that all trials and the sentencing
of those convicted under our criminal laws must be conducted in the public
courtroom.
However, that work should be correspondingly eased by changes in the law,
such as the moving of most traffic offenses out of criminal court to administrative
procedures, and by relieving the court of great numbers of civil cases through
the adoption of genuine no-fault motor-vehicle insurance laws. The
courts must also organize their work efficiently, employing modern management
procedures. Many improvements could be made by the use of administrative
volunteers, including retirees who can furnish professional services to the
court at minimal costs.
Other changes needed to obtain equal justice
in the courts include:
(1) the repeal
of some criminal laws against certain personal conditions or individual misconduct. Examples
are criminal prohibitions of vagrancy, personal gambling, public drunkenness,
drug use, and prostitution. Together, these changes alone account for
more than half of all arrests in some jurisdictions. They result in
little social good, but great evil in class discrimination, alienation, and
waste of resources needed for other purposes. Some related laws such
as those against drunken driving and those limiting and controlling the operation
of gambling establishments need to be tightened;
(2) the adoption of systematic new panel
codes prescribing penalties proportionate to the predictable damage done
by the various kinds of crime, without regard to the race or class of the
offender. For example, in the United States, there are discriminatory
high penalties for the use of crack cocaine (most often used by blacks) as
opposed to powder cocaine (most often used by whites);
(3) the training
of judges of juvenile and criminal courts in the use of non-incarcerating
community sanctions wherever the offense does not involve persistent violence;
(4) the adoption
of systematic new penal codes prescribing a range of penalties without regard
to the race or class of the offender, but utilizing non-incarceration community
sanctions wherever consistent with community protection;
(5) the provision
of court-fixed sentences, rather than mandatory ones, in order to draw upon
the skill and the training of qualified judges;
(6) a statement
by the sentencing judge of the reason or reasons why he or she is selecting
from the range permitted by the law the particular sentence being pronounced;
(7) the development
of appropriate jury selection procedures that would ensure the most inclusive
representation, including representatives of the socioeconomic class and
ethnic group of the defendants and of the crime victims, as well as balance
between male and female jurors;
(8) the adoption
by all courts of: (a) speedy trial provisions, which the Constitution guarantees;
and (b) that degree of personal recognizance and supervision which each defendant's
situation warrants, regardless of race and class identity, in place of the
present, inherently discriminatory bail-bond, pretrial release process that
exists in some courts;
(9) when fines
are assessed, they should be scaled to the magnitude of the crime and the
ability of the offender to pay. In suitable cases, fines should be
made payable in installments; and
(10) governmentally regulated programs
of compensation for reimbursement of financial loss incurred by innocent
victims of crime should be encouraged, with preference being given for programs
in which specific offenders provide restitution to their specific victims
as an alternative to incarceration; and
(11) changes in state self-defense
laws to allow for cases in which persistently battered persons, especially
women and children, are driven to violence against their batterers, when
they believe with good reason, that another attack is forthcoming.
We recommend that local churches consider setting
up court monitoring panels to observe court operations and proceedings. Such
panels may well adopt a role of friends of the court or of advocacy on behalf
of accused persons and/or on behalf of crime victims. They may adopt
other appropriate procedures in the interest of restorative justice, including
close scrutiny of plea-bargaining and/or evidence of unequal imposition of
sentences.
ADOPTED 1980
AMENDED AND READOPTED 2000
See Social Principals, 164F.
234. Grand Jury Abuse
Jesus'
words, ADo
not judge, so that you may not be judged" (Matthew 7:1 NRSV), surely
imply that all judgments are made in the light of God's truth. The
Social Principles of The United Methodist Church state boldly that "governments,
no less than individuals, are subject to the judgment of God" (164E). Such
a social principle causes us, appropriately, to view with concern the government's
use of the grand jury to control dissent and to harass those who act under
the constraint of conscience.
The grand jury is envisioned in American law as a protector of citizens
from unwarranted prosecutions. It is for this reason that its proceedings
are secret and it has the power to subpoena witnesses.
Evidence indicates that in recent years, the extraordinary powers of the
grand jury often have been used not for the protection of citizens, but in
subjecting them to harassment and intimidation. Historically, political
dissidents, antiwar activists, and leaders of minority groups and religious
organizations have been particularly vulnerable to these abuses.
A government prosecutor can control the grand jury, thus distorting the
grand jury's
power to monitor and moderate the actions of the prosecution. The prosecutor
can use the subpoena powers of the grand jury to conduct investigations that
are the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. As an example,
the United States Congress has never given the Federal Bureau of Investigation
subpoena powers, yet agents routinely threaten uncooperative persons with
subpoenas from a grand jury. In fact, subpoenas are often served at
the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The use of the powers of the grand jury to harass and pursue political
dissidents is a departure form its proper constitutional function, and it
is a threat to public order, lawful government, and true domestic security.
Witnesses called before a grand jury may be given little or no warning
of their subpoenas, may be forced to travel to court at distances from their
homes, may not know whether they are targets of prosecution, may have little
understanding of their rights, and cannot have legal counsel in the chambers.
Comprehensive grand jury reform legislation is needed to restore the constitutional
guarantees of protection for citizens. The United States Constitution's
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and false accusation must
be reestablished and reinforced.
The United Methodist Church, therefore, supports legislation designed to
enhance the rights to due process of law, freedom of association, effective
legal counsel, the presumption of innocence, and the privilege against self-incrimination
of persons subpoenaed to testify before grand juries.
ADOPTED 1980
AMENDED AND READOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164E and F.
235. Gun Violence
Violence and, more particularly, violence to children and youth is a primary
concern for United Methodists. We recognize and deplore violence which
kills and injures children and youth. In the name of Christ, who came
so that persons might know abundant life, we call upon the church to affirm
its faith through vigorous efforts to curb and eliminate gun violence.
Gun violence is killing America's children. Based on statistics from
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, there are an estimated 223 million
firearms in the United States. Approximately one out of every four
households owns a handgun. The risk of handgun violence to children
and youth is more prevalent in the United States today than in any previous
generation. Our communities and schools are so exposed to large numbers
of privately owned guns that no mere attempts at providing slightly better
security can match the awful threat of guns finding their way through our
well-intentioned safety systems.
A significant total reduction in the numbers of guns in our communities
is our goal in ministry. We serve and our society's
children go to school amidst passionately violent segments of current youth
culture. No appeals to individual autonomy are sufficient to justify
our church's ignorance of this threat. The need to prevent the incidence
of firearm-related injury and death is an issue of increasing concern and
a priority U.S. public health issue. The United Methodist Church is
among those religious communions calling for social policies and personal
lifestyles that bring an end to senseless gun violence.
Gun violence in America's
schools has emerged as a growing and disturbing trend. The United Methodist
Church supports ministries that address the issue of violence and crime prevention
for children/youth in urban areas through the Communities of Shalom. Violence
is no longer confined to the streets of urban areas but has occurred at an
increasing rate in suburban communities. Over the past several years,
high-profile cases of school shootings involving suburban youth killing and
injuring teachers and peers alike have once again brought the issue of guns
and youth to the forefront of national attention.
These acts of senseless violence should not be an acceptable occurrence
in any community: suburban, urban, or rural. The church must
continue to address these issues of violence and develop programs to enrich
the lives of all children/youth.
In light of the increase of gun violence affecting the lives of children
and youth, we call upon The United Methodist Church to:
(1) convene
workshops of clergy and other mental health care professionals from communities
(urban, rural, and suburban) in which gun violence has had a significant
impact in order to discuss ways by which The United Methodist Church should
respond to this growing tragedy, and to determine what role the church should
take in facilitating dialogue to address the issue of gun violence in our
schools and among our children;
(2) educate
the United Methodist community (parents, children, and youth) on gun safety,
violence prevention, adult responsibility around gun violence prevention,
and the public health impact of gun violence;
(3) identify
community-based, state, and national organizations working on the issue of
gun violence and seek their assistance to design education and prevention
workshops around the issue of gun violence and its effect on children and
youth;
(4) develop
accuracy groups within local congregations to advocate for the eventual reduction
of the availability of guns in society with a particular emphasis upon handguns,
handgun ammunition, assault weapons, automatic weapons, automatic weapon
conversion kits, and guns that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal
detection devices. These groups can be linked to community-based, state,
and national organizations working on gun and violence issues;
(5) support
federal legislation to regulate the importation, manufacturing, sale, and
possession of guns and ammunition by the general public. Such legislation
should include provisions for the registration and licensing of gun purchasers
and owners, appropriate background investigation and waiting periods prior
to gun purchase, and regulation of subsequent sale;
(6) call upon
all governments of the world in which there is a United Methodist presence
to establish national bans on ownership by the general public of handguns,
assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits; and weapons that cannot
be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices;
(7) call upon
the print, broadcasting, and electronic media, as well as the entertainment
industry, to refrain from promoting gun usage to children;
(8) discourage
the graphic depiction and glorification of violence by the entertainment
industry, which greatly influences our society, and recommend that these
issues be addressed through education and consciousness raising;
(9) call upon
the federal and state governments to provide significant assistance to victims
of gun violence and their families; and
(10) recommend that annual conferences
make visible public witness to the sin of gun violence and to the hope of
community healing.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principals, 164F.
236. Human Rights
God created human beings,
in the image of God they were created;
male and female were created.
(Genesis 1:26-27, adapted)
We affirm that all persons are of equal worth in the sight of God, because
all are created in the image of God. Biblical tradition demands that
we live in interdependent relationship with God and our neighbor. We
must respond to human need at every community level.
As covenant people of God, we are called to responsibility rather than
privilege.
God's
vision for humanity as revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ demands the total fulfillment of human rights in an interdependent
global community. It is a vision of life where needs of the community
have priority over individual fears and where redemption and reconciliation
are available at all. Human rights are holistic in nature and therefore
indivisible in their economic, social, cultural, civil, and political aspects. The
omission of any of these aspects denies our God-given human dignity.
As Christians, we receive and carry a mandate to seek justice and liberation. Isaiah
calls us to:
loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke
(Isaiah 58:6).
The United Methodist Church continues its commitment to human rights as
grounded in God's
covenant by critically assessing and safe-guarding the following principles
as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
(1) All persons are of equal worth and dignity.
(2) All persons have the right to self-determination, cultural identity,
and minority distinction.
(3)All persons have the right to self-determination, cultural identity,
and minority distinction.
(4)All persons have the right to religious expression
and practice. The United Nations has spoken
strongly against racism as a human rights violation in the United Nations Declaration
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination:
Discrimination between human beings on the ground
of race, color or ethnic origin is an offense to human dignity and shall
be condemned as a denial of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
as a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as an obstacle to friendly and
peaceful relations among nations and as a fact capable of disturbing peace
and security among peoples.
In addition, the United Nations has also defined sexism as a violation
of human rights in the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women:
Discrimination against women, denying or limiting
as it does their equality of rights with men, is fundamentally unjust and
constitutes an offense against human dignity.
Furthermore, Amnesty International has proposed to "end abuses based
on sexual orientation" and
to "defend
the rights of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals to live lives free from stigmatization
and violence."
We call upon citizens within the church and society to analyze critically
trends and developments that adversely effect human rights. These include:
(1) the increase
of capital-intensive technology that destroys opportunities for productive
and meaningful employment;
(2) the intentional
use of data banks to undermine rather than enhance abundant living;
(3) the growing
phenomenon of an "underclass" of
persons domestically and internationally excluded from full participation
in society due to educational, cultural, economic, and political conditions;
(4) the possible
economic and political scape-goating of such an underclass for technological
and social displacement;
(5) increasing
extrajudicial executions; torture; and disappearances of dissenters, their
families, and communities;
(6) the growth
of militarism and the imposition of military-like control over civilians;
(7) the increase
of terrorism and the growth of white supremacist and racial hate groups,
neo-Nazi groups, paramilitary units, and extreme ultra-nationalistic groups;
(8) in many
countries, the decreasing civilian control of domestic and international
policing and intelligence units as well as increasing surveillance of their
own citizenry, imposed under the guise of a potential threat to national
security; and
(9) the conflict
between meeting the basic needs of developing countries and the disproportionate
sharing of global resources.
We are increasingly aware that militarism and greed can overwhelm and undermine
movements to secure human rights. The church is called to be an advocate
for the human rights of all persons in the political, social, and economic
quest for justice and peace.
As people of faith and hope, we commend those trends that contribute positively
to the human rights movement. Among them:
the
growing acceptance of universal standards for human rights;
the
establishment of organizations such as Amnesty International, which documents,
verifies, and publicizes political imprisonment, torture, killings, and crimes
against humanity;
the
increasing consensus against war as a viable solution to international conflicts;
movement
toward the inclusion of "basic
human needs" criteria
in international aid packages and financial aid programming;
the
growing importance of human rights offices in governments around the world;
and
the
growing emphasis on technology appropriate to the cultural setting.
We uphold the requirements advocated by the National Council of Churches
to preserve and protect human rights:
(1) Human rights require world peace.
(2) Human rights require a secure and sustainable
environment.
(3) Human rights require sustainable human development.
(4) Human rights require the preservation of
communities.
(5) Human rights require the preservation of
religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
We call upon all governments to accept their obligation to uphold human
rights by refraining from repression, torture, and violence against any person. We
further call upon all governments to ratify and implement international conventions,
covenants, and protocols addressing human rights in the context of justice
and peace.
We call the church to be a place of refuge for those who experience the
violation of their human rights. It is the duty of Christians Ato
help create a worldwide community in which governments and people treat each
other compassionately as members of one human family."
ADOPTED 1996
AMENDED AND READOPTED 2000
See Social Principals, 164A.
237. Juvenile Delinquency and Prevention
Let the little children come to me and not stop them, for it is to such
as these that the kingdom of God belongs. (Mark 10:14 NRSV).
Our Lord particularly identified with children and illustrated the loving
care which they need to grow and mature.
The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church calls for special
attention to the rights of children and youth. From these perspectives
we are concerned that in many states, children are arrested and incarcerated
for truancy, incorrigibility, stubborn altercations with parents, and other
conduct which would not be criminal if performed by an adult. Such
state offenses should not be considered as grounds for involving a juvenile
in processes of criminal or delinquency procedures. Rather, a child
in trouble should be helped by caring communities, such as churches, mentoring
programs, and boys/girls clubs.
There is considerable evidence that the methods of dealing with children
play a major part in developing criminal tendencies. Most adults who
repeat violent crimes began their conflict with law and order as children
ten to fourteen years old. If treatment by the state or local agencies
leads the child to think of him or herself as a tough young criminal, he
or she is likely to act out that role.
The United Methodist Church urges that all status offenses be eliminated
from the juvenile codes and from the processes for determining juvenile delinquency. We
urge further that all offenses by children and youth be handled with extreme
reluctance to incarcerate the offender. We especially oppose solitary
confinement of children and youths in official detention. Institutions
where juveniles classified as delinquent often are segregated from the general
population often becomes schools of crime. As an alternative, we encourage
greater use of supportive and restorative services for parents and children
in their home settings; foster child care; neighborhood group homes, Parents
Anonymous, and other alternatives.
There are communities within the states in which children are routinely
locked up in jails because of a lack of temporary shelter, care or an unwillingness
to use home detention. We urge the prohibition of placing dependent
and neglected children in jails or facilities for juvenile delinquents.
For many children, the quality of life continually declines due to poverty,
gangs, school violence, emotional sexual and physical abuse, and other social
ills that have yet to be recognized. The United Methodist Church must
take a stand against juvenile delinquency and work to prevent it.
The church can witness to children in a restorative and prophetic way. The
church must continue to address the social issues that children and adolescents
face and become a safe haven where the children can come. By addressing
the issues that children face, we help bring God's children back to their
Creator.
Therefore, be it resolved, that General Conference of The United
Methodist Church takes a stand against juvenile delinquency and works to
strengthen prevention programs.
Be it further resolved, that The United Methodist Church, through
the appropriate churches, annual conferences, agencies, or coalitions work
to prevent juvenile delinquency and treat offenders by:
updating
the Urban and Rural Life Youth Mentoring Guide;
continuing
the develop and distribute peer mentoring guides to local churches;
continuing
to develop and distribute up-to-date information on juvenile delinquency
and strategies on how local churches can help prevent juvenile delinquency;
encouraging
local churches to create ministry partnerships with local juvenile justice
officials and juvenile justice agencies;
forming
alliances with other international, national, state, and local civic and
religious groups that work on juvenile justice issues; and
encouraging
conference council on youth ministries or other similar boards to create
ministry teams and/or programs for their peers.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164F.
238. In Opposition to Capital Punishment
The United Methodist Church declares its opposition to the retention and
use of capital punishment and urges its abolition. In spite of a common
assumption to the contrary, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," does
not give justification for the imposing of the penalty of death. Jesus
explicitly repudiated retaliation (Matthew 5:38-39), and the Talmud denies
its literal meaning and holds that it refers to financial indemnities.
Christ came among us and suffered death. Christ also rose to new
life for the sake of all. His suffering, death, and resurrection brought
a new dimension to human life, the possibility of reconciliation with God
through repentance. This gift is offered to all without exception,
and human life was given new dignity and sacredness through it. The
death penalty, however, denies Christ's power to transform and restore all
human beings. In the New Testament, when a woman having committed a
crime was brought before Jesus, He persisted in questioning her accusers,
so that they walked away (John 8:1-11).
The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church condemn "...torture
of persons by governments for any purpose," (164A) and assert that it
violates Christian teachings. The church, through its Social Principles,
further declares, "we oppose capital punishment and urge its elimination
from all criminal codes." (164A)
During the 1970s and 1980s a rapidly rising rate of violent crime and an
even greater increase in the fear of crime generated support in some countries
and within the American society, for the institution of death as the punishment
for certain forms of homicide. It continues to be wrongly asserted,
that capital punishment uniquely deters criminals and protects law-abiding
citizens from violent crime.
Studies conducted over more than sixty years have overwhelmingly failed
to support the thesis that capital punishment deters homicide more effectively
than does imprisonment. Careful comparisons of homicide rates in similar
states with and without use of the death penalty have revealed that homicide
rates remained the same or slightly greater regardless of the use of the
death penalty in those states. Governments that have enacted the death
penalty continue to have higher civilian murder rates than those that do
not. The five countries with the highest homicide rates that do not
impose the death penalty average 21.6 murders per every 100,000 people, whereas
the five countries with the highest homicide rate that do not impose the
death penalty average 41.6 murders every 100,000 people. The United
Methodist Church is deeply concerned with the rate of crime throughout the
world, and the value of a life taken by murder or homicide. When another
life is taken through capital punishment, the life of the victim is further
devalued. Moreover, the church is convinced that the use of the death
penalty would result in neither a net reduction of crime nor a lessening
of the particular kinds of crime against which it was directed.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the use of the death penalty in the United States
reached almost unprecedented proportions. The rate of homicide, the
crime for which the death penalty has been used almost exclusively, increased
very little during the 1980s and declined during the 1990s. As United
Methodist Christians, part of our mission is to give attention to the improvement
of the total criminal justice system and to the elimination of social conditions
which breed crime and cause disorder, rather than foster a false confidence
in the effectiveness of the death penalty.
Sixty-seven percent of law enforcement officials do not think capital punishment
decreases the rate of homicide. A poll of police chiefs found that
they ranked the death penalty least effective in reducing violent crime.
In 1993, the U.S. Supreme Court rule that executing an innocent person
was not "cruel
and unusual" if
all the proper and legal procedures were followed. The court thus does
not have to reopen a case if new evidence, exonerating the defendant, comes
to light after a legally established deadline for new information. Between
1972 and 1999 more than seventy people have been released from death row
as a result of being wrongly convicted. On average, for every seven
people executed, one person under a death sentence is found innocent.
The United States is the world leader in sentencing children to death. Since
1990 only Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and the U.S. are known
to have executed persons for crimes they committed as children. Of
these, the U.S. has executed more juvenile offenders than any other nation. This
practice has been condemned in nearly every major human rights treaty. Canada,
Italy, and South Africa are among the many countries that abolished the death
penalty in the 20th Century.
The death penalty falls unfairly and unequally upon marginalized persons
including the poor, the uneducated, ethnic and religious minorities, and
persons with mental and emotional illnesses. In the United States,
persons who receive the death penalty are usually convicted of killing middle
or upper class white persons, are almost always poor and unable to afford
a lawyer, and often suffer from brain damage associated with previous head
injuries, often in childhood. In the U.S. methods for selecting the
few persons sentenced to die from among the large number who are sentenced
for comparable offenses are entirely arbitrary. What warrants the death
penalty and what sentencing options are available vary among the few countries
that impose capital punishment and even among the states in the United States.
The United States Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), in permitting
use of the death penalty, conceded the lack of evidence that it reduced violent
crime, but permitted its use for purpose of sheer retribution.
The United Methodist Church cannot accept retribution or social vengeance
as a reason for taking human life. It violates our deepest belief in
God as the Creator and the Redeemer of humankind. In this respect,
there can be no assertion that human life can be taken humanely by the state. Indeed,
in the long run, the use of the death penalty by the state will increase
the acceptance of revenge in our society and will give official sanction
to a climate of violence.
Therefore, we call upon United Methodists individually, at the district
and conference level and through general boards and agencies to:
work
in collaboration with other ecumenical and abolitionist groups for the abolition
of the death penalty in those states which currently have capital punishment
statutes, and against efforts to reinstate such statues in those which do
not;
speak
out against the death penalty to state governors, state and federal representatives;
develop
education materials on capital punishment; and
oppose
all executions through prayer and vigils.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164A.
239. Prisons and Criminal Justice
Today the United States has 1.8 million people behind bars-more people
than any other country in the world-perhaps half a million more than China. One
out of every 100 adult males in the USA is behind bars. The inmate
population is growing by 50,000 to 80,000 per year. Prison construction
is booming and a new "prison industrial complex" now costs taxpayers
$35 billion a year. All this despite the fact that since 1991 the rate
of violent crime in the U.S. has fallen by about 20 percent, while the number
of people in prison or jail has risen by 50 percent.
Viewed through a racial lens, the statistics are even more disturbing. About
half the inmates in the U.S. are African-American; one out of every 14 black
men is now in prison or jail. One out of every four is likely to be
imprisoned at some point during his lifetime. While women still comprise
a distinct minority of those in prison, the number of women sentenced to
1 year or more of prison has grown twelve-fold since 1970. Seventy
percent of women now in prison are nonviolent offenders. Prisons have
ceased to be places of rehabilitation and have become rather human warehouses. "All
across this country new cellblocks rise. And every one of them, every
brand new prison, becomes another lasting monument, concrete and ringed with
deadly razor wire, to the fear and greed and political cowardice that now
pervade American society." (Eric Schlosser in the December
1998 issue of the Atlantic Monthly the source for much of the above
information).
The prison system in the U.S.A. is oppressive, racist and a major contributing
cause of crime and poverty. Recent trends toward privatizing prisons
have raised the specter of prisons operated not for rehabilitation but only
to maximize profit for shareholders, with all the possibilities of overcrowding,
harsh conditions, and denial of basic necessities that such a motivation
encourages. In addition, many prisons are now contracting convict labor
to public agencies and private corporations at substandard wages and working
conditions, often resulting in a loss of jobs in the general economy.
The prison industrial complex includes some of the nation's largest architecture
and construction firms, Wall Street investment banks, and companies that
sell everything from security cameras to padded cells.
The increasing use of the death penalty compounds the racism already inherent
in a criminal justice system in which adequate representation is often dependent
on the wealth of the accused. The abolition in many states of college
programs and work release eviscerates efforts at rehabilitation and increasingly
restrictive parole policies deny parole to those inmates who have been rehabilitated. The
whole emphasis in the prison system has moved away from rehabilitation to
custody and punishment.
The prison system of his time was one of Mr.
Wesley's
primary concerns and has remained a concern of the people called Methodist
into this century. The prison system in the U.S. today cries out for
a major church-wide emphasis. The General Board of Global Ministries
is already planning a major program in this area.
The Humanity of the Imprisoned
We call for a renewed emphasis on 164F of the Social Principles: "In
the love of Christ, who came to save those who are lost and vulnerable, we
urge the creation of genuinely new systems for the care and support of the
victims of crime and for rehabilitation that will restore, preserve, and
nurture the humanity of the imprisoned. For the same reason, we oppose
capital punishment and urge its elimination from all criminal codes."
Policy
We call for:
A
renewed church-wide focus on removing the death penalty.
Opposition
to privatization of prisons.
Incarceration
within reasonable proximity of the place of conviction to promote visitation.
Support
for programs of rehabilitation: parole, college programs, drug programs,
work release, conjugal and family visits, and offense related counseling
programs.
Improved
prison conditions to eliminate overcrowding and provide recreational opportunities.
Restoration
of voting rights to ex-offenders.
Evangelization
For John Wesley, visiting those who were sick and in prison was an essential
element of the Christian life. The prison population in the U.S. today
is the most isolated, alienated and forgotten segment of our population,
and it is growing even as crime rates decrease. There is no greater
mission field in the United States than the prison system. We call
on the General Conference to establish a comprehensive initiative to encourage
and assist local congregations to reach out to those in prison. Goals
of such an emphasis should include:
1) Ten
percent of the churches in each annual conference with programs of prison
visitation on a regular basis. These programs should focus first on
establishing relationships with inmates without regard to their religious
affiliation and only then on programs of bible study and worship for those
who wish them. Wesley visited the imprisoned both for his own spiritual
well being of those in prison.
2) Encouraging
churches with primarily white congregations to link up with ethnic minority
churches to do prison ministry together, especially in areas where the prison
population is predominantly ethnic minority.
3) Assisting
men and women coming out of prison to find housing and employment and in
making the adjustment to society on the outside. This might include
receiving inmates on release into local congregations.
4) Formation
of a Prison Missional Task Force in each Annual Conference with the mission
of studying the prison system in their state. These Task Forces shall
make prison visits and meet with correctional administrators and former inmates
and prepare recommendations for the amelioration of prison conditions where
indicated. They shall address such issues as resources for parenting
of children of incarcerated persons, transportation needs of families of
prisoners.
5) Identifying
former inmates with special skills to act as consultants to the Prison Missional
Task Force and where appropriate, to local church prison ministries.
6) Linking
Death Row inmates with UM congregations for visitation and prayer.
7) Support
the Karios and Epiphany movements within Emmaus communities as they minister
to youth and adults placed in prisons or detention centers. The Racial
Justice Interagency Task Force shall assist in the development of the prison
emphasis.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164F.
240. Prison Industrial Complex
There are a number of penal systems in the United States which take upon
themselves the job of confinement or supervision of persons charged with,
or convicted of crimes. For the most part, these systems are capable
neither of rehabilitating criminals nor of protecting society, much less
restoring crime victims. They are, in fact, institutions where persons
are further conditioned in criminal conduct and where advanced skills in
crime are taught. More often than not, penal institutions have created
more crime rather than deterred criminals. They represent an indescribable
failure and have been subjected to gross neglect by the rest of society and
by the church. They do not deserve the designation of correctional
institutions, for they correct nothing for the crime victim, the offender,
or the community.
Despite their massive failure, prisons and jails and the numbers of persons
confined within them are growing rapidly in the United States, leading some
to speak of a "Prison
Industrial Complex." This concept refers to the extent to
which corporate interests and the profit motive-no concerns of public safety,
equal justice, offender rehabilitation, or victim restoration-are increasingly
driving and determining criminal justice policy in the United States.
Private Prisons
International attention has been given to the long and rapid rise in the
United States prison population over the last 25 years. The United
States imprisons a higher proportion of its people than all but one other
country in the world, Russia. Incarceration has become a very expensive
growth industry in the United States.
This industry of warehousing people has presented a temptation to those
who would profit from the punishment of human beings, leading to perhaps
the most ominous illustration of prison industrial complex at work: the privatization
of prison operation and/or ownership. Sometimes governments contract
with corporations to operate prisons. A recent trend is for private
corporations to design, build, and own prisons to be privately operated and
to house prisoners from anywhere in the United States or its territories. Often
this takes the form of companies'
building prisons on spec, or as speculation, assuming that prisoners will
be found, somewhere, to fill their beds.
There is a long history in the United States especially in the South, of
exploitation of prison labor through the convict lease system and other arrangements
whereby private industry has been allowed to have control over prisoners'
lives. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution
allows for legal exploitation of prisoners. Today, private prison entrepreneurs
seek areas which have a surplus of prisoners and areas of high unemployment
which often welcome prisons as a new form of economic development. Typically,
this means that it tends to be the poor and ethnic minorities who find their
labor, their spirits, and their lives exploited, whether as the keepers or
as the kept.
Private prison companies typically are paid on a per-capita and per-diem
basis. Therefore they have little incentive to rehabilitate prisoners
or to prevent recidivism. Indeed, it is in their economic interest
to have more crime, more incarceration, and more recidivism, all of which
lead to more profits. The logic of the profit motive is to cut costs. In
privately operated prisons, this is usually achieved by cutting staff, payroll,
benefits, supplies, security, and rehabilitation programming for prisoners. Such
cuts lead to a decreased sense of professionalism and a higher rate of turnover
among employees, greater hopelessness and bitterness among prisoners, and
greater threats to the safety of staff, prisoners, and the general public,
especially in the local community.
Many states where private prisons are now operating have no laws regulating
their operations (including health, safety, security, legal access for prisoners,
and disciplinary policies). Many private prisons are under no obligation
to ensure access to information about prisoners held in them or how they
are classified, and often regard this as proprietary information. Private
prisons hurt local and state economies. Contracting our operations
exports taxpayer monies from local communities to corporations often headquartered
out of state. For existing prisons, communities lose public sector
jobs with family-supporting wages and benefits, and civil service job security. Local
communities which provide supplies, services, or equipment to government
agencies lose out when a large contractor, usually based out of state, wins
a contract to operate a former government facility. Finally, when private
prisons contract out bed space to prisoners from distant states, it makes
it more difficult for families, friends, ministers, attorneys, and advocates
to visit them for support, or counsel. This also increases their chances
of recidivism when they are released.
Our Lord began his ministry by declaring "release to the captives..." (Luke
4:18 NRSV), and he distinguished those who would receive a blessing at the
last judgment by saying, "I was in prison and you visited me." (Matthew
25:36b NRSV) Jesus also declared that one cannot serve two masters and condemned
the idolatry of mammon, or wealth. (Luke 16:13).
Christians, therefore, must have a special concern for those who are captive
in any way, especially for those who are imprisoned, and for the human conditions
under which persons are incarcerated. Individual Christians and churches
must also oppose those policies and practices which reflect greater allegiance
to the profit motive than to public safety and to restorative justice for
offenders, crime victims, and local communities.
Therefore, The United Methodist Church declares its opposition to the privatization
of prisons and jails and to profit making from the punishment of human beings.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164F.
241. Restorative Justice
1. Biblical
Theological Grouding
The words of Micah ring out clearly, setting
the tone for justice ministries in the church: "He
has told you, O Mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of
you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your
God?"
(Micah 6:8)
Justice is the basic principle upon which God's creation has been established. It
is an integral and uncompromising part in God's
redemptive process, which assures wholeness. Compassion is characterized
by sensitivity to God's
justice and, therefore, sensitivity to God's people.
The gospel, through the example of Jesus Christ, conveys the message for
Christians to be healers, peacemakers, and reconcilers when faced with brokenness,
violence, and vengeance. Through love, caring and forgiveness, Jesus
Christ is able to transform lives and restore dignity and purpose in those
who were willing to abide by his principle.
Jesus was concerned about victims of crime. In the story of the Good
Samaritan, Jesus explored the responsibility we have for those who have been
victimized: "Which of these three, do you think, was neighbor to the
man who fell into the hands of the robbers? He said, The one who showed
him mercy.'
Jesus said to him, >Go
and do likewise'" (Luke
10:36-37).
Jesus was concerned about offenders, those who victimize others. He
rejected vengeance and retribution as the model of justice to being used
for relating to offenders: "You have heard that it was said, >An
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But
I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you
on the right cheek, turn the other also;..." (Matthew 5:38ff.) Jesus
also indicated the responsibility Christians have for offenders: "I
was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me...Truly
I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these...you did it
to me." (Matthew
25:36, 40).
The Apostle Paul believed that this biblical concept of justice which was
reflected in the life of Christ was a primary molder of Christian community
and responsibility: "All
this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given
us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling
the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting
the message of reconciliation to us" (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
While acknowledging that the biblical concept of justice focuses on the
victim, the offender, and the community in the hope of restoring all to a
sense of God's
wholeness, it is also important to understand that our Methodist heritage
is rich with examples of ministries carried out in jails and prisons. John
Wesley (and others in his inner circle, including a brother, Charles) had
a passion for those in prison. As early as 1778, the Methodist Conference
adopted action making it the duty of every Methodist preacher to minister
to those who were incarcerated. United Methodists have reaffirmed and
expanded the mandate for prison ministry and reform in many different chapters
of our denominational history. This is a part of our identity and call.
Criminal justice in our world rarely focuses on the biblical initiatives
of restoration, mercy, wholeness, and shalom. Out of a desire to punish
rather than restore, governments around the world have made retribution the
heart of their criminal justice systems, believing that this will deter crime
and violence. The statistics indicate the colossal failure of retributive
justice. Therefore, we call on the church to embrace the biblical concept
of restorative justice as a hopeful alternative to our present criminal justice
codes. Restorative justice focuses on the victim, the offender, and
the community in the desire to bring healing and wholeness to all.
II. Our Current Criminal Justice System:
A Retributive Justice System
A. Victims:
When crime is defined as the breaking of a law, the state (rather than
the victim) is posited as the primary victim. Criminal justice, as
we know it, focuses little or no attention on the needs of the victim. Legal
proceedings inadvertently cause crime victims, including loved ones, to experience
shock and a sense of helplessness which is further exacerbated by financial
loss, spiritual or emotional trauma, and often a lack of support and direction. Many
victims feel frustrated because, in most cases, there seems to be little
or no provision for them to be heard or to be notified of court proceedings. Victims,
moreover, are seldom given the opportunity to meet with their offenders,
face to face, in order to personally resolve their conflicts and to move
toward healing, authentic reconciliation, and closure.
B. Offenders:
Our criminal justice systems around the world would have become increasingly
based on retribution. Although it is often cloaked or justified in
the language of accountability, this focus on punishment has resulted in
massive increases in the number of incarcerated persons across the globe. In
the United States, for example, the prison population doubled between 1990
and 2000, even as the crime rate decrease during this period. Because
prisons are often places where dehumanizing conditions reinforce negative
behavior, present criminal justice systems actually perpetuate a cycle of
violence, crime, and incarceration, especially among those whose race, appearance,
lifestyle, economic conditions, or beliefs differ from those in authority.
Incarceration is costly. In the United States, the cost of incarcerating
someone for a year ranges between $15,000 and $30,000. Citizens are
therefore paying billions of dollars for the support of systems that consistently
engender a grossly dehumanizing experience characterized by the loss of freedom,
the loss of contact with family and friends, the loss of self-determination,
the loss of education, the loss of adequate medical care, and the loss of
religious freedom and opportunities for spiritual growth.
C. Community:
Criminal justice, as we know it, is retributive justice. It is consumed
with blame and pain. It is a system of retribution that pays little
or no consideration to the root causes of criminal behavior. It does
not aim at solutions that will benefit the whole community by helping the
community to repair the breach and often fails to come to terms with the
social conditions that breed crime. Retributive justice permanently
stigmatizes the offender for past actions, thereby creating such a sense
of alienation from the community that social reintegration is virtually impossible. An
offender who is held in exile away from the community cannot be held accountable
to the community for his or her wrongdoing. An ex-offender who is ostracized
and kept in exile after paying his or her debt to society is further violated. He
or she is stripped of the opportunity to fully understand the consequences
of the crime committed, to make restitution to the victim, to be reconciled
with the community, or to heal and become a viable member of the community.
III. Our Vision of Restorative Justice
The gospel, through the example of Jesus Christ, conveys the message for
Christians to be healers, peacemakers, and reconcilers when faced with brokenness,
violence, and vengeance. The concept of restorative justice shows us
specific ways by which to transform lives and effect healing.
Restorative justice asks: Who has been hurt? What are their needs? Whose
obligations are they?
We label the person who has been hurt "the victim." But
the victim is essentially a survivor who need not remain a victim for
his or her entire life. The victim needs healing and emotional support. Victims
(survivors) want people to recognize the trauma they have endured and how
this trauma has affected their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Often
survivors/victims need counseling, assistance, compensation, information,
and services. Victims/survivors need to participate in their own healing. They
may need reparations from the offender, or the victim may want to meet the
offender and have input during the trial, sentencing, and rehabilitation
process.
During the healing process, the victim often asks: Why me? What kind
of person could do such a thing? Therefore, they may want to meet their
offender to receive answers to such questions. Victims deserve to have
these questions answered and to hear that the offender is truly sorry.
Victims suffer real pain; however, encouraging vengeance does not heal
pain. The community needs to aid in the recovery of the victim. The
community can help the victim by not ostracizing him or her, by learning
how to accept him or her as a person and not just a victim.
Offenders are harmed as well. An offender is harmed by being labeled
for life as an offender. One or more bad decisions or actions sometimes
measure the total of an offender's life. Offenders are further harmed
when they are denied the opportunity to make amends, to have respectful interaction
with others, and to develop healthy social skills before, during, or after
incarceration. Often young offenders do not have constructive guidance
or a good role model in the community. Sometimes they need treatment
for a disorder, life skills development, or mentoring with clear and achievable
expectations of heightened self-awareness and accountability.
The victim and the community need to identify ways the offender can remedy
hurt and harm caused. The offender needs to understand how his or her
behavior affected others, and acknowledge that the behavior was indeed harmful. The
offender needs to be transformed into a contributing citizen of the community
with a system of limits and support.
Crime hurts the community. When crime occurs, the neighborhood is
disrupted; people become more isolated, fearful, distrusting, and uninterested
in the community. Restorative justice helps to release the community
members from their fear of crime; it empowers them with the knowledge that
circumstances are not out of their control. The community needs to
express pain and anger to the one or ones who caused the harm. However,
we need to take on step further by helping in the healing process. We
need to understand and address the causes of crime to prevent future occurrences. The
victim, community, and offender (when possible) need to help others who face
similar struggles.
Restorative justice opens the opportunities for personal and community
transformation. This transformation cannot be mapped, planned, or put
into a program or structure. Nevertheless, it can be encouraged and
nurtured.
United Methodists have the will, the vision, the opportunity and the responsibility
to be advocates for systemic change. We are called to minister with
all parties affected by crime: the victim, the offender, and the community.
Expectations are high for the faith community to lead the way in practicing
restorative justice. We need to own and advocate a vision or restorative
justice. We need to be supportive to members of the congregation who
are victims, offenders, and their families, and especially to those who work
toward restoration in the criminal justice system.
The church must initiate models of restorative justice with service providers,
policy makers, and law enforcement. We need to work in partnership
with the criminal justice system to make it more open, accessible, humane,
effective, and rehabilitative, and less costly. We need to see our
own capacity in community breakdowns and in the racism and classism present
in the enactment and enforcement of criminal law. We must also advocate
for social and economic justice to see the restoration and strengthening
of our communities.
IV. A Call To Action
As United Methodists we are called to:
repent
of the sin we have committed that has fostered retributive justice;
speak
prophetically and consistently against dehumanization in the criminal justice
system;
establish
restorative justice as the theological ground for ministries in The United
Methodist Church and to build bridges of collaboration and cooperation to
advance the practice of restorative justice with boards and agencies within
The United Methodist Church, with United Methodist and other Methodist communions
around the globe, with other faith communities in the United States and worldwide;
and with nonprofit organizations, and/or governmental organizations;
intensify
our redemptive ministries with those who in criminal justice, victims of
crime and their families, those who are incarcerated in jails and prisons
and their families, and communities traumatized by crime.
At the General Church Level:
(1) Restorative
Justice Ministries Inter-Agency Task Force:
Continue and expand the work of The United Methodist
Church's Restorative Justice Ministries through the Inter-Agency Task Force,
which serves as the global coordinating committee for criminal justice and
mercy ministries mandated by the 1996 General Conference of The United Methodist
Church, by the following:
Maintain and broaden the involvement of general agencies in this task force,
including: the General Board of Global Ministries (as "lead" or "administrative
agency"), the General Board of Discipleship, the General Board of Higher
Education and Ministry, the General Board of Church and Society, the General
Council on Ministries, the Council of Bishops, and other relevant agencies
and initiatives.
Fulfill these specific functions:
provide
a biblical-theological basis for a restorative justice approach to criminal
justice;
be
a center for resourcing, teaching, learning, and networking;
work
collegially with other groups and organizations whether they are inside or
outside the denomination, religious or secular, by finding common ground
to bring about systemic change in the spirit of mediation (even when there
is disagreement about theological rationale);
coordinate
the training, networking, and advocacy for Restorative Justice Ministries
of The United Methodist Church by working with jurisdictions, annual conferences,
central conferences, districts, local United Methodist churches and their
communities.
Serve
as the primary advocate and interpreter of Restorative Justice Ministries;
Identify
and expand critical models and facilitate the development of Restorative
Justice Ministries, on a global basis, at all levels of The United Methodist
Church.
Manage
the Restorative Justice Ministries budget and assist in procuring additional
funding for these ministries in strategic locations across the church.
(2) Specific
General Church Agencies:
A. Identify
and implement disciplinary functions that can strengthen The United Methodist
Church's effectiveness in the area of restorative justice.
B. Continue
to implement and expand the special mandates from the 1996 General Conference.
that
United Methodist Women consider the integration of Restorative Justice Ministries
within the Schools of Christian Ministry as they develop study curricula;
that
the General Board of Global Ministries consider naming missionaries in the
fields of prison ministry and victim's
advocacy ministry;
that
central conferences and annual conferences in the United States be linked
through electronic mail, when available, so that frequent communication can
enhance the planning process for this new initiative;
that
the General Board of Discipleship be responsible for the training of local
church and annual conference leaders to utilize study processes such as DISCIPLE
Bible Study and/or Covenant Discipleship, and to provide mentoring;
that
United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women give consideration to starting
units within jails and prisons and create study guides and tools to promote
Christian disciple-making;
that
existing programs and resources be evaluated to assess their applicability
and effectiveness in ministries with victims, families, and those incarcerated;
that
the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry and the General Board
of Discipleship consider the development of a certification process for those
providing ministries with prisoners, crime victims, and their families;
that
the General Board of Church and Society and the General Board of Global Ministries
intensify their advocacy for social and economic justice in order to restore
and strengthen communities;
that
the General Board of Church and Society and the General Board of Global Ministries
continue to advocate for a criminal justice system that is not racist, less
costly, and more humane, effective, rehabilitative, and accessible to family
members of victims and offenders.
At Jurisdictional/Central Conference and Annual
Conference Levels:
1. Support
jurisdictional/central conference and annual conference networking as modeled
by the Southeastern Jurisdiction's
Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries network, or bring together clusters
of contiguous conferences or expedite processes of training and resource
sharing.
2. Encourage
conferences to establish inter-agency restorative justice task forces to
coordinate Restorative Justice Ministries within their bounds, with special
emphasis on partnership with the Restorative Justice Ministries Inter-agency
Task Force and the facilitation and resourcing of local church ministries.
At the Local Level:
1. Encourage
local congregations to provide adult and youth education programs on restorative
justice: theory, practice, issues, models, resources (utilizing curriculum
resources, printed and audiovisual, provided through the above mentioned
connectional sources).
2. Encourage
congregations to provide safe space to enable people to share real experiences
of victimization, incarceration, or other direct encounters with the criminal
justice system and/or restorative justice processes.
3. Encourage
congregations to schedule a "Restorative
Justice Ministries Sunday" to generate deeper awareness by the entire
congregation regarding the contrasting paradigms of retributive justice and
restorative justice-and their different outcomes.
4. Encourage
congregations to organize or form direct service and/or advocacy efforts
to support the work of restorative justice.
5. Work
with local ecumenical and/or interfaith agencies and other community agencies
to:
Convene
consultations of representatives of the restorative justice community to
define policy/legislative needs and strategies.
Encourage/resource
congregations to work on restorative justice-working through regional judicatories
and media.
Encourage/initiate
dialogue with correctional/criminal justice system officials.
Identify
and nurture criminal justice system leaders (e.g. judges, attorneys, wardens,
police, etc.) regarding restorative justice.
Involve
local congregations in ministries with juvenile detention centers and domestic
violence centers.
Build
covenant discipleship groups at the local level for restoration justice advocates,
as well as for other persons involved in the criminal justice system.
Provide
victim-offender mediation and other restorative justice processes.
Identify
and develop coalitional partnerships with victim assistance groups, advocacy
groups, jail and prison ministry groups, ex-offender assistance groups, etc.
Plan
and implement strategies for advocacy that encourage legislative support
for restorative justice programs.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164F.
242. Seek Moratorium on Capital Punishment
WHEREAS, United Methodists value the sanctity of human life, and desire that
no human being be executed by capital punishment; and
WHEREAS, 75 innocent persons have been released from death row due to wrongful
conviction and imprisonment since 1976, according to the National Conference
on Wrongful Convictions and The Death Penalty at Northwestern University Law
School; and
WHEREAS, the American Bar Association has called for a moratorium on the
death penalty until flaws in the criminal justice system related to capital
cases are corrected, so that innocent people are not put to death; and
WHEREAS, thorough investigations and competent experienced capital case lawyers
are often not appointed to defend poor defendants in capital cases; and
WHEREAS, highly publicized capital cases seem often to be decided in an emotionally
charged atmosphere; and
WHEREAS, DNA evidence was not available when most current death row prisoners
were convicted; and
WHEREAS, by October 1, 1998, the work of privately paid lawyers (by those
who could afford them), DNA evidence, and legal corrections had exonerated
75 of the over 3,500 people currently on death row in the United States,
Therefore, the General Conference of The United Methodist Church calls upon
the government to enact an immediate moratorium on carrying out of the death
penalty sentence.
Be it further resolved, that the secretary of the General Conference,
the Council of Bishops, and the general secretary of the Board of Church and
Society invite the governors and senators from the 50 U.S.A. states and the
president, vice president, and major candidates for president of the U.S.A.
to take a strong stand for this moratorium.
Be it further resolved, such a request or invitation to government
officials should be made within 40 days of the end of the 2000 General Conference
and should be publicized in the major newspapers around the world.
ADOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164A.
243. Victims of Crime
In answering the question, "Who is my neighbor?" by telling the
parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37 NRSV), Jesus formulated a new
question, to whom are we a neighbor? In this parable the neighbor was
the victim of crime.
Many people become victims of crime. Victims and their families suffer
shock and a sense of helplessness. In addition to financial loss, there
is a spiritual and emotional trauma and often a lack of support and direction. Many
victims feel frustrated because there often seem to be no provision for them
to be heard. Their injuries are not redressed, and they are not always
notified of the court procedures. This is an area where the church has
an opportunity to be a neighbor and to minister with the victims. We
often assume victims and offenders are often victims as well. A focus
on prevention will break the cycle.
Therefore, we call upon the members of The United Methodist Church to minister
with the victims and to be advocates for them. We also call upon the
General Conference:
(1)to direct
the General Board of Church and Society to work for the recognition of the
needs and rights of victims and survivors of crime;
(2) to support
laws at both the federal and state levels whereby offenders make restitution
to their crime victims, to work for restorative justice and for the adoption
of laws where there are no such provisions;
(3) to recognize
that the constitutional rights of the victim must be provided. Victims
of crime or their lawful representatives, including the next of kin of homicide
victims, are entitled to be kept informed during criminal proceedings, to be
present at the trial, and to be heard at the sentencing hearing as well as
to be given an opportunity to make an impact statement at the time of the parole
consideration;
(4) to encourage
seminaries to develop continuing education programs on this subject;
(5)to direct
the General Board of Discipleship to develop guidelines, programs, and study
materials for pastors and others in providing spiritual support and understanding
for victims and families; and
(6) to urge
all members of The United Methodist Church to initiate prayers, presence, and
support for victims and survivors as well as strategies to bring about necessary
changes in the criminal justice system and to assure and advocate for the fair
treatment of victims and survivors.
ADOPTED 1988
AMENDED AND READOPTED 2000
See Social Principles, 164F.
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