Grace Pending
I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Matthew 25:36
It may not exactly have been a Matthew 25 moment, but it certainly brings to mind one of Christ’s required corporal works of mercy. And this one was undertaken not without some risk, psychological if not political.
It was, after all, both an historic opportunity as well as a contemplative, if not a humbling, one:
In becoming the first occupant of his high office to visit a federal [medium security] correctional facility [located in El Reno, OK], Mr. Obama could not help reflecting on what might have been. After all, as a young man, he smoked marijuana and tried cocaine. But he did not end up with a prison term lasting decades.
As it turns out, Mr. Obama noted, there is a fine line between president and prisoner. “There but for the grace of God,” Mr. Obama said somberly after his tour. “And that, I think, is something that we all have to think about.”
For obvious security reasons, the prison visit was necessarily choreographed:
The president was brought to Cell Block B, which had been emptied for the occasion, its usual occupants moved to other buildings. The only inmates Mr. Obama saw during his visit were six nonviolent drug offenders who were selected to have a 45-minute conversation with him at a round table.
But it nevertheless remained authentic:
The six seemed to make an impression. “When they describe their youth and their childhood, these are young people who made mistakes that aren’t that different than the mistakes I made and the mistakes that a lot of you guys made,” Mr. Obama said afterward. “The difference is they did not have the kinds of support structures, the second chances, the resources that would allow them to survive those mistakes.”
The President further observed that
“Every single one of them emphasized the fact that they had done something wrong, they are prepared to take responsibility for it, but they also urged us to think about how society could’ve reached them earlier on in life to keep them out of trouble.”
Mr. Obama undertook this visit to highlight recent bi-partisan Congressional efforts to overhaul the criminal justice system – a system that has been plagued by massive over-crowding, disproportionately excessive sentences for what are generally non-violent, first-time offenses, and what are often perfunctory efforts at rehabilitation and re-integration back into the community.
Certainly, the President found common cause with Oklahoma’s recently re-elected, conservative governor, Mary Fallin, who herself has urged prison reform:
The governor also advocated what she calls smart on crime initiatives, like Remerge, that offers treatment over incarceration for non-violent offenders with drug abuse and alcohol problems.“They need treatment; they need supervision; and they need to be returned to their communities as sober adults ready to support themselves and their families.”
In fact, the President went out of his way to praise Oklahoma’s educational and job-training programs for prisoners, but then rightly noted:
“The question is not only how do we make sure that we sustain those programs here in the prison . . . [b]ut how do we make sure that those same kinds of institutional supports are there for kids and teenagers before they get into the criminal justice system.”
Importantly, the President emphasized that those incarcerated for violent crimes such as murder, rape, and assault are not necessarily a part of his sentencing reform priority:
“There are people who need to be in prison, and I don’t have tolerance for violent criminals,” Mr. Obama said. “Many of them may have made mistakes, but we need to keep our communities safe.”
The President’s call for reform is in many ways consistent with Catholic teaching – certainly as laid out in the USCCB’s seminal report Responsibility, Rehabilitation, and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice (2000):
We are guided by the paradoxical Catholic teaching on crime and punishment: We will not tolerate the crime and violence that threatens the lives and dignity of our sisters and brothers, and we will not give up on those who have lost their way. We seek both justice and mercy. Working together, we believe our faith calls us to protect public safety, promote the common good, and restore community. We believe a Catholic ethic of responsibility, rehabilitation, and restoration can become the foundation for the necessary reform of our broken criminal justice system. (Emphasis added)
The USCCB notes this, from St. John Paul II, by way of introduction:
We are still a long way from the time when our conscience can be certain of having done everything possible to prevent crime and to control it effectively so that it no longer does harm and, at the same time, to offer to those who commit crimes a way of redeeming themselves and making a positive return to society. If all those in some way involved in the problem tried to . . . develop this line of thought, perhaps humanity as a whole could take a great step forward in creating a more serene and peaceful society.”
At least one commentator on the USCCB’s report has noted that any effort at reform must take into account the pain and suffering caused to the victims of these crimes, who all too often get lost in the process:
Human dignity focuses the morally concerned person on the victim of crime and the offender, but also on those involved in various roles within the criminal justice process. The bishops call for strong support to make the justice system more responsive to the concerns of victims who too often are neglected in the process or their anger and pain is exploited to support punitive policies.
Moreover
Attention must be paid to [the victims’] needs of healing and compassion, inclusion in the proceedings against their offenders, and the help of the faith community in recovering their dignity as they search for genuine justice. The bishops urge the widespread adoption of “innovative programs of restorative justice that provide the opportunity for mediation between victims and offenders and offer restitution for crimes committed.”
Any reform of the criminal justice system must, first and foremost, center upon the needs of the victims of crime and their families, showering them with all of the compassion, concern, dignity, and recompense required for their complete healing.
They deserve nothing less.
At the same time, we are all called to be mindful of the underlying humanity of all people – even of criminals who have caused this pain and suffering. We are called to be agents both of justice and mercy – remembering, always, that we too are the fallen, we too are in need of constant forgiveness, yet we too are equally loved.
Punishment, incarceration where appropriate, and full recompense must be demanded of all those who inflict pain upon others.
But so, too, is love and mercy demanded from us:
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
This may well be, as St. John Paul II observed, the only true path to peace, security, and serenity.
Finally, readers of this blog, and of my own personal Facebook page, know that I am a consistent and often harsh critic of this President. I remain constantly wary not only of his priorities, but also of the implementation of them.
But I stand with him here, in this call for prison and sentencing reform.
I believe that our Catholic faith – which often challenges us far beyond anything that we are comfortable with – demands nothing less from us.
The President deserves credit for this critical undertaking.
Peace
UPDATE: This from Elizabeth Scalia wherein we are both fully in accord.
Image Credit Here, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped): karinvogt
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