Let's reduce rates of crime and incarceration

By Peggy A. Johnson

Pope Francis has received hundreds of letters from people in the United States sentenced to life-without-parole prison terms for crimes they committed while children. In response, he has asked for prayers for the "spread of the Gospel message of mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation in Christ." He wrote, "Assure them that the Lord knows and loves each of them, and that the pope remembers them with affection in his prayers."

His powerful message of love and hope for a constituency reviled for its violent past may be unimaginable to many Americans. As a leader in the United Methodist Church, I appreciate the pope's message and also pray that the spirit of mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation he espouses spreads far and wide, particularly among lawmakers in Washington and state capitals.

Today, the United States incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world, more than 2.2 million. Sixty percent of people in prison are brown and black and are much more likely to come from neighborhoods with high unemployment, challenged schools, and limited access to medical, mental-health, and addiction treatment. Racism and poverty help to fuel the criminal justice system, which leaves communities and families broken and scarred for generations.

Crime has declined, but researchers tell us that mass incarceration is only a fraction of the cause for this decline. We can prevent crime and protect victims without excessive sentences and without harming individuals and communities. More proactive forms of help are reentry programs, courses on alternatives to violence, job training, housing, financial support, counseling for families, and substance-abuse treatment.

Such programs are popping up across the country in recent years because of their effectiveness and commonsense approach to public safety. But the damaging crime policies of the past must still be addressed. Policies like the harsh mandatory minimum sentences passed by Congress nearly 30 years ago have created a massive buildup of prisons, and it is time for reform.

The U.S. Senate has before it a bipartisan bill designed to reduce long mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenses and create a more proportional and fair sentencing system at the federal level. The Smarter Sentencing Act, sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R., Utah) and Richard Durbin (D., Ill.), has broad support, particularly among faith leaders. We recognize, as did more than 1,200 of our brothers and sisters in a letter to Congress, that mass incarceration and lengthy confinement, even in cases where violence is absent and addiction and mental illness fuel the crime, impact our communities both financially and morally.

Locking away poverty, racism, illness, violence, illiteracy, and abuse does not make our homes and families safer. We are not addressing the causes of crime with incarceration, but instead continuing a vicious cycle that steals children from their families and mothers from their children. As people who believe in mercy, forgiveness, and love, we must do better to protect all children and families.

We cannot ignore the human worth of those who commit crimes. Cruel policies like mandatory minimum sentencing say it is OK to cast aside individuals and warehouse them with limited opportunity to change the life course that brought them to commit crimes in the first place.

In the last decade, 17 states reduced their incarceration rates and saw continued declines in crime rates. We do not have to choose between protecting victims and reducing incarceration. We would not want to, and we are so glad that through initiatives like the Smarter Sentencing Act, we do not have to.