c c 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] c 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]
c c c c c c c c c 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]
c c c c c c c c c 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] c 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.
