NCJ Number
104311
Journal
Criminal Justice Ethics Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer-Fall 1986) Pages: 31-54
Date Published
1986
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article discusses some of the key principles and themes of Christian thinking about criminal justice.
Abstract
The discussion focuses more on issues of principle and substance, such as the justification for criminal law and penal treatment, than on issues of judicial and penal procedures. A review of the formative influences on Christian thinking about punishment and the law encompasses the pre-Christian Jewish tradition of divinely enacted law in the Old Testament, the concept of law and its demands portrayed in the New Testament, and the theology of the early Christian church pertinent to secular law. The article then provides an overview of the theologies of Augustine, Thomas Acquinas, and John Calvin, whose views of Christianity and society have profoundly influenced Western social thought. A brief account of some religiously motivated efforts to reform offender treatment focuses on the 18th and 19th centuries. The article concludes by identifying tensions within Christian thought on criminal justice and suggesting some elements of Christian criminal justice theory that deserve contemporary consideration. Some Christian concepts relevant to contemporary criminal justice are that punishment in a just system is deserved by law violators, but punishment, even if deserved, is not a good in itself but should serve the ends of protecting the innocent and the defenseless. Further, Christianity holds that no individual or institution is irredeemably bad nor incorruptibly good, which implies the need for ongoing reform for both offenders and criminal justice institutions. 85 notes.