Restorative Justice

We bring our prayers to Creator God, who both "takes up our pain and bears our suffering" and will "let justice roll down like a river."

We bring our prayers to Creator God, who both "takes up our pain and bears our suffering" and will "let justice roll down like a river."

We bring our prayers to Creator God, who both "takes up our pain and bears our suffering" and will "let justice roll down like a river."

We're excited to welcome Laurel Luke as a new Do Justice columnist, focusing on criminal justice!

Four years ago, I knew very little about criminal justice reform or prisons. I didn’t know anyone who had been to prison, have any knowledge around what a prison was like or how long people stayed, and I didn’t have a clue what legislation or stories got people locked up. All I knew was that prisoners did something bad, were serving a sentence, and most would be released.

We bring our prayers to Creator God, who both "takes up our pain and bears our suffering" and will "let justice roll down like a river."

Looking for summer beach reads? Here's what some Christian Reformed justice staff are reading this summer. 

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” - Zora Neale Hurston

Viviana Cornejo

In Luke 23:42, "the other criminal said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'" The author of Hebrews says in chapter 13:3, "Remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."

"Remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison."

Each of us is an offender in God's eyes. That God extends his grace deep enough to embrace even the life-sentence-serving criminal should comfort and inspire all of us who follow Him.

It’s been quite the year! Thanks for reading and learning along with us, as we wrestled with faith with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other (Karl Barth).

Here are the top Do Justice articles (ranked by top pageviews) that got you thinking and acting in 2017: 

A reckoning. A cleansing. A settling of accounts.

Journalists and commentators have been at pains over the last several months to find new words to describe the ongoing revelations of sexual assaults, harassments, and misconducts by powerful men in a variety of industries and sectors. Politicians, news anchors, film executives, actors, comedians and more have seen their careers come to an abrupt halt as victims courageously stand up and come forward with unsettling stories of severe abuse of power.

Not long ago, I spent an afternoon smoking a cigarette with a convicted drug dealer and thief. Well, I wasn’t smoking the cigarette, but I was there nonetheless, enjoying the second-hand smoke and conversation. Well, enjoying the conversation and avoiding the second-hand smoke.

Our choice of setting? The no-smoking area of a hospital courtyard, large ‘Fresh Air Area’ signs over our heads.