D034 Support and Advocacy for Restorative Justice and a Moral Commitment to Abolition of Prisons and Policing
Mass incarceration and police violence are profound injustices in American society. Both are products of a culture of white supremacy that seeks to enact control over Black Americans, in particular. Additionally, US prisons are structured by practices of security and dehumanization that lead to violence and inhumane conditions, while efforts to reform policing have failed to control the violence committed by those entrusted with state authority.
The moral witness of the Church stands against practices of exclusion and punishment, especially those enacted in racially-inequitable ways. Our current systems of prisons and policing function as racist systems of social control, and they treat those who have committed crimes as disposable. The promise of the Gospel is the promise of justice for the marginalized and of restoration and redemption for those who have done harm to others. The hope of the Church points to the coming reign of God where there will be no prisons or police, but instead the true justice and peace of God.
Our call, as the Church, is to be faithful to that vision of God’s justice by standing with those calling for the abolition of the current system of policing and prisons and its replacement with restorative and transformative forms of justice and community safety.
The moral obligation to stand for abolition is rooted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and in our baptismal covenant. Jesus proclaimed freedom for prisoners (Luke 4:18) and promised the possibility of justice aimed at restoration even for those who murdered him (Luke 23:34). Our baptismal vow to “proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ” calls us to proclaim God’s desire for liberation for all who are incarcerated. We must proclaim God’s desire for real justice and accountability that restores relationships, transforms situations of harm, and aims at reconciliation, which is the core mission of the Church.
Our baptismal vow to “work for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being” requires us to recognize the ways that policing and prisons are systems which function to uphold white supremacy and restrict the lives and liberty of marginalized people, especially Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans. Furthermore, the violence and abuse committed by police and occurring within prisons, including the torture of solitary confinement, restraint in shackles and chains, and other inhumane conditions, directly degrade human dignity. Being subject to police violence in one’s community or being locked in a cage is not consonant with the dignity of every human being. Our baptismal covenant calls us to seek alternatives to any such imprisonment and violence.
The current US system of prisons and policing derives from the history of chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation. American prisons and policing, in practice, function as a system of racial control — a “new Jim Crow”[1] — established on a basis of anti-Blackness. Because of these historic connections, the current movement for prison and police abolition is a successor to the 19th-century movement for the abolition of slavery. Bishop James Theodore Holly repeatedly submitted resolutions to the General Convention calling for the abolition of slavery, but The Episcopal Church never adopted or endorsed them. We were on the wrong side of the abolition question in the 19th century. Let us be on the right side of this debate in the 21st century.
The Church has been complicit in our society’s reliance on policing and prisons to produce security for some people at the expense of the lives and dignity of others. In the baptismal covenant, we promise that “whenever we fall into sin, we will repent and return to the Lord.” Measured opposition to “mass” incarceration but not to incarceration more broadly, attempts to improve prison conditions, and efforts to seek police reform are not sufficient. God desires that we “return to the Lord with all our heart” (Joel 2:12). We must renounce sinful and dehumanizing systems of policing and incarceration and commit ourselves to equitable and peaceful systems of public safety. A moral commitment to aspire for the abolition of prisons and policing is true and necessary repentance.
Additional resources:
Other faith-based organizations pursuing and studying abolition include (links attached):
- Community Safety for All Toolkit from SURJ-Faith: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/cs4a/
- Abolition Curriculum from the Mennonite Church USA: https://www.mennoniteusa.org/abolition-curriculum/
- Abolitionist Sanctuary: https://www.abolitionistsanctuary.org/
- Christians for the Abolition of Prisons: https://christiansforabolition.org
Books:
The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition, Lee Griffith (Eerdmans, 1993)
“Prison Makes Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration, Victoria Law (Beacon, 2021)
Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, Dominique Dubois Gilliard (IVP, 2018)
Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System, Laura Magnani and Harmon L. Wray (Augsburg Fortress, 2006)
We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, Mariame Kaba (Haymarket Books, 2021)
Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better, Maya Schenwar (Berrett-Koehler, 2014)
Policy suggestions are drawn from Critical Resistance's Abolitionist Reforms. See attached documents.
[1] See Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, New Press, 2010.
Support Documents:
Christians for Abolition website
Community Safety Toolkit from SURJ-Faith
Abolition Curriculum from the Mennonite Church
Abolitionist Sanctuary website
CR_abolitioniststeps_antiexpansion_2021_eng
CR_police_reform_vs_abolition_chart_revised
Note: this resolution and/or its explanation contains external references, such as URLs of websites, that may not be in the required languages of General Convention. Because of copyright restrictions, the General Convention cannot provide translations. However, your web browser may be able to provide a machine translation into another language. If you need assistance with this, please contact gc.support@episcopalchurch.org.
Explanation
Mass incarceration and police violence are profound injustices in American society. Both are products of a culture of white supremacy that seeks to enact control over Black Americans, in particular. Additionally, US prisons are structured by practices of security and dehumanization that lead to violence and inhumane conditions, while efforts to reform policing have failed to control the violence committed by those entrusted with state authority.
The moral witness of the Church stands against practices of exclusion and punishment, especially those enacted in racially-inequitable ways. Our current systems of prisons and policing function as racist systems of social control, and they treat those who have committed crimes as disposable. The promise of the Gospel is the promise of justice for the marginalized and of restoration and redemption for those who have done harm to others. The hope of the Church points to the coming reign of God where there will be no prisons or police, but instead the true justice and peace of God.
Our call, as the Church, is to be faithful to that vision of God’s justice by standing with those calling for the abolition of the current system of policing and prisons and its replacement with restorative and transformative forms of justice and community safety.
The moral obligation to stand for abolition is rooted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and in our baptismal covenant. Jesus proclaimed freedom for prisoners (Luke 4:18) and promised the possibility of justice aimed at restoration even for those who murdered him (Luke 23:34). Our baptismal vow to “proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ” calls us to proclaim God’s desire for liberation for all who are incarcerated. We must proclaim God’s desire for real justice and accountability that restores relationships, transforms situations of harm, and aims at reconciliation, which is the core mission of the Church.
Our baptismal vow to “work for justice and peace, and respect the dignity of every human being” requires us to recognize the ways that policing and prisons are systems which function to uphold white supremacy and restrict the lives and liberty of marginalized people, especially Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans. Furthermore, the violence and abuse committed by police and occurring within prisons, including the torture of solitary confinement, restraint in shackles and chains, and other inhumane conditions, directly degrade human dignity. Being subject to police violence in one’s community or being locked in a cage is not consonant with the dignity of every human being. Our baptismal covenant calls us to seek alternatives to any such imprisonment and violence.
The current US system of prisons and policing derives from the history of chattel slavery and Jim Crow segregation. American prisons and policing, in practice, function as a system of racial control — a “new Jim Crow”[1] — established on a basis of anti-Blackness. Because of these historic connections, the current movement for prison and police abolition is a successor to the 19th-century movement for the abolition of slavery. Bishop James Theodore Holly repeatedly submitted resolutions to the General Convention calling for the abolition of slavery, but The Episcopal Church never adopted or endorsed them. We were on the wrong side of the abolition question in the 19th century. Let us be on the right side of this debate in the 21st century.
The Church has been complicit in our society’s reliance on policing and prisons to produce security for some people at the expense of the lives and dignity of others. In the baptismal covenant, we promise that “whenever we fall into sin, we will repent and return to the Lord.” Measured opposition to “mass” incarceration but not to incarceration more broadly, attempts to improve prison conditions, and efforts to seek police reform are not sufficient. God desires that we “return to the Lord with all our heart” (Joel 2:12). We must renounce sinful and dehumanizing systems of policing and incarceration and commit ourselves to equitable and peaceful systems of public safety. A moral commitment to aspire for the abolition of prisons and policing is true and necessary repentance.
Additional resources:
Other faith-based organizations pursuing and studying abolition include (links attached):
- Community Safety for All Toolkit from SURJ-Faith: https://surj.org/our-work/surj-faith/cs4a/
- Abolition Curriculum from the Mennonite Church USA: https://www.mennoniteusa.org/abolition-curriculum/
- Abolitionist Sanctuary: https://www.abolitionistsanctuary.org/
- Christians for the Abolition of Prisons: https://christiansforabolition.org
Books:
The Fall of the Prison: Biblical Perspectives on Prison Abolition, Lee Griffith (Eerdmans, 1993)
“Prison Makes Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration, Victoria Law (Beacon, 2021)
Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, Dominique Dubois Gilliard (IVP, 2018)
Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System, Laura Magnani and Harmon L. Wray (Augsburg Fortress, 2006)
We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, Mariame Kaba (Haymarket Books, 2021)
Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn’t Work and How We Can Do Better, Maya Schenwar (Berrett-Koehler, 2014)
Policy suggestions are drawn from Critical Resistance's Abolitionist Reforms. See attached documents.
[1] See Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, New Press, 2010.
Support Documents:
Christians for Abolition website
Community Safety Toolkit from SURJ-Faith
Abolition Curriculum from the Mennonite Church
Abolitionist Sanctuary website
CR_abolitioniststeps_antiexpansion_2021_eng
CR_police_reform_vs_abolition_chart_revised
Note: this resolution and/or its explanation contains external references, such as URLs of websites, that may not be in the required languages of General Convention. Because of copyright restrictions, the General Convention cannot provide translations. However, your web browser may be able to provide a machine translation into another language. If you need assistance with this, please contact gc.support@episcopalchurch.org.