j j To all but the most casual observers, America has a prison problem. The United
States currently has only 4.4% of the world’s population but has 22% of the total
number of incarcerated people in the world.[1] In terms of raw numbers, this means
that on any given day, more than two million people are imprisoned in the United
States.[2] Even more surprising is the fact that over seventy million people in the
United States have a criminal conviction on their record.[3]
Those incarcerated are disproportionally black and brown, with blacks incarcerated at
three times the rate of Hispanics and seven times the rate of whites.[4] Many will note
that 50% of all murders are committed by black people, even though they only make
up 13% of the US population.[5] However, 75% of total imprisoned are not guilty of
violent crimes, and black and brown people make up a large percentage of those
imprisoned.[6] j Due to these competing narratives and the systemic racism that has
pervaded the U.S., many Americans have an unconscious bias against people of
color, especially African Americans and Native Americans.[7] This bias leads to many
blacks have experiences such as those detailed by Esau McCaulley, who says, “I have
been stopped somewhere between seven and ten times on the road or for existing in
public spaces for no crime other than being Black.”[8]
j j j j j j j j j j This does not mean that the bias is intentional. As David Swanson says, “It’s not
that most of us are consciously choosing those racial biases; they’ve simply attached
themselves to our imaginations and assumptions.”[9] These biases and the
experiences of black people with law enforcement have created atmosphere of fear
of policing within black people that is diametrically opposed to Paul’s words in
Romans 13:3-4.[10] This means that our system as currently structured is not
protecting the innocent, but is instead creating an assumption of guilt that harms
both white people and people of color. This is a problem where the solution is found
as much re-education of people and reformulation of penal codes as it is solved by
alternatives to imprisonment. Proper and equal application of laws can begin to
eliminate the racial inequality that currently exists within policing.[11]
j j j j j j j j j j The best portion of policing for the United States to focus on is upon deterring
criminal activity. The American system is set up to use punishment as a deterrent for
potential lawmakers, and there is a consensus that prompt and certain punishment
does tend to deter crime.[12] j Deterrence does not have to be limited to incarceration.
Social programs, such as drug rehabilitation and job training, can also be powerful
deterrents. These can begin to eliminate the need to commit the crimes that many are
incarcerated for. In addition, for those 75 percent of crimes that do not involve
violence against others, a combination of fines, loss of privileges, and community
service can also be utilized as effective deterrents in lieu of imprisonment.
Bibliography
Campbell, Douglas A. “Mass Incarceration: Pauline Problems and Pauline Solutions.”
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 72, no. 3 (2018): 282-292.
McCaulley, Esau. Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an
Exercise in Hope. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020.
McQuilkin, Robertson and Paul Copan. An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking in the
Way of Wisdom. Third edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014.
Swanson, David W. Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True
Solidarity. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2020.
Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan. Revolution of Values: Reclaiming the Public Faith for the
Common Good. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2019.
[1]Douglas A. Campbell, “Mass Incarceration: Pauline Problems and Pauline
Solutions,” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 72, no. 3 (2018): 282.
[2]Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Revolution of Values: Reclaiming the Public Faith for the
Common Good (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2019), 91.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Campbell, “Mass Incarceration,” 283.
[5]Robertson McQuilkin and Paul Copan, An Introduction to Biblical Ethics: Walking in
the Way of Wisdom, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014), 441.
[6]Ibid., 437.
[7]David W. Swanson, Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True
Solidarity (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2020), 12.
[8]Esau McCaulley, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an
Exercise in Hope (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 28.
[9]Swanson, Rediscipling the White Church, 12.
[10]McCaulley, Reading Whilte Black, 40.
[11]McQuilkin and Copan, Biblical Ethics, 441.
[12]Ibid., 433.
