By Jim Coggins

IN A COUNTRY racked by escalating gang violence, there is a new focus on law enforcement and longer prison sentences. But Christians working in the field say prisons are not necessarily the answer.

"You can't just warehouse people in prison and expect them to change," said Wayne Northey, executive director of the M2/W2 prison visitation ministry in British Columbia.

Increased prison time is increasingly the preferred solution of some politicians. According to the CBC, crime was one of the two main issues in the BC election May 12, along with the economy, and the two leading parties had very similar platforms on the issue, both emphasizing stricter laws.

The governing Liberal Party had a seven-point plan that included more police officers, more prosecutors, more jails and secure courts, tougher laws, a crackdown on illegal guns, the outlawing of armoured vehicles and body armour, and a new gang hotline and informer rewards program.

The opposition New Democratic Party platform called for hiring new police officers, establishing a dedicated team of anti-gang Crown prosecutors, imposing tougher bail conditions, and banning the sale of body armour to known gang members.

For its part, the federal government has introduced several bills to revise the Criminal Code. Bill C-14 would impose mandatory minimum sentences for certain crimes, and Bill C-15 would impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes that involve children, violence or organized crime. Bill C-25 would eliminate the practice of sentences being shortened not just by whatever time those convicted have spent in jail awaiting trial but by two or three times the amount of time they have already spent in jail.

But is increased time in prison the solution?

The federal New Democratic Party has opposed Bill C-15, arguing that the threat of longer sentences does not deter criminals from committing crimes.

However, Ed Fast, chair of the Justice and Human Rights Committee in the Canadian House of Commons, countered that the evidence on deterrence is inconclusive and that the purpose of longer sentences is not deterrence but the protection of society. He suggested that career criminals often commit 20 to 40 offences before they are caught, so a long sentence for one crime can prevent the criminal from committing many others.

Fast, a committed Christian and member of South Abbotsford Church in Abbotsford, BC, said criminal justice is a shared responsibility of all three levels of government. Provincial parties focus on issues such as police and prosecutors because that is the area of provincial responsibility. The federal government has responsibility for the Criminal Code and giving the provinces, police and courts "the tools they need to mete out justice."

Fast noted that many recent government initiatives have focused on violent repeat offenders. These represent only a very small group, he said, but they are the ones "who terrorize our communities."

Northey said he is uneasy about the current emphasis on imprisonment. He noted that while "there have always been prisons," the modern penitentiary system was developed by Christians and was "a tragic Western development."

The first penitentiary was developed by the Philanthropic Society, an organization led by Quakers, in Philadelphia in 1790. Many Quakers had been imprisoned for their faith and had found it a time for study and reflection. They hoped penitentiaries would have the same effect on criminals, leading them to repentance, using a model from medieval monasteries, where monks were sent to their cells for penitence. The idea caught on and became the primary form of judicial punishment.

The problem, said Northey, was that the guards running the early penitentiaries were often poorly paid non-professionals who were not that different from the criminals they were guarding. Moreover, he added, "You can't impose spiritual development."

Continue article >>

Studies of monasteries have shown that being confined to a cell led more often to insanity than spiritual renewal. While older forms of punishment such as the stocks, branding and other forms of physical punishment left physical scars, prison "often leaves scars on the psyche," said Northey.

Prisons are necessary to protect society from violent criminals, said Northey, but taking a criminal out of the community does not necessarily lead to rehabilitation. "If crime is a fundamental disrespect for other people, then the rehabilitation process must respect the criminal," he said. "It must involve the community where the disrespect started."

Northey pointed to Native communities' practice of sending wrongdoers away from the village and to the New Testament practice of discipline in Matthew 18. Both processes expelled the wrongdoer for a time but with the ultimate goal of restoration.

"Unless there is a receiving community," said Northey, prisoners who complete their sentences often quickly return to alcohol and crime. M2/W2 has about 350 lay volunteers who relate one-on-one with those in prison and then maintain contact after the prisoner is released.

Fast said the long-term rehabilitation programs in federal prisons do have some positive effect in reducing the recidivism rate (the rate at which prisoners return to crime after release). However, in provincial prisons, prisoners serve less than two years and are often not there long enough for rehabilitation programs to work. For those awaiting trial in remand centres, there are no rehabilitation programs at all.

The federal government provides some funding for the M2/W2 program in federal prisons, but the BC government has eliminated funding for M2/W2 in provincial prisons, said Northey. The BC government has also eliminated its minimum security institutions and the rehabilitation programs that went with them, such as the "internationally renowned" Stave Lake treatment centre for sex offenders, said Northey.

Fast agreed that while longer sentences are important for serious criminals, they are not the solution to everything. He pointed to the federal government's anti-drug strategy, which includes education and drug treatment programs.

He also noted that while Bill C-15 would impose longer sentences on serious criminals, it would allow lower-level criminals -- such as those who sell drugs to finance their own drug addictions -- to avoid prison if they agree to go into drug rehabilitation. He noted that small-time offenders who commit crimes to support their drug habits will continue to commit crimes after they are released from prison as long as they remain addicted.

Fast talked about the cooperative work going on between the federal and provincial governments, but he also talked about cooperative work with non-governmental agencies. He singled out the contributions of two Christian agencies, M2/W2 and Teen Challenge, which receives no government funding and which has been very successful in helping people overcome drug addictions. Both programs, Fast said, do something that government cannot do -- bring in a faith component.

Both organizations also provide a connecting point to the community, which both Fast and Northey agreed is a great help in the rehabilitation process and the reintegration process. Northey cited studies which show that rehabilitation is much more likely when there is community intervention in addition to the work of institutional staff.

Northey agreed that Christians can bring in a component that governments cannot, but he added that even a secular justice system can bring positive results if it uses a restorative justice model. He cited the example of the modern Japanese prison system, which uses "Christian" concepts such as confession, restoration and absolution.

A restorative justice model involves the wrongdoer not only apologizing to the person wronged but also making restitution, allowing both the victim and the wrongdoer "to move on," said Northey. Restitution is prominent in the Old Testament, beginning with Cain and Abel, and was modeled by Zacchaeus in the New Testament.

The experience of Christians being imprisoned for their faith should give us pause, Northey suggested, recalling Jesus' words, "I was in prison, and you visited me."

"We are saved by faith. We should bring a similar experience of justification to others," said Northey. The goal, he added, is to "turn the person not just into a non-criminal but also into a contributing member of society."

May 21/2009