In the hope of combating and eliminating injustice in society, organisations such as Amnesty International have been set up that support criminals throughout their life in prison, and constantly battle for justice and the dignity of the criminal. Projects such as Christmas card sending to prisoners who may have no family and whose Christmas is lonely and demoralising, receive hope that the community are thinking about them and that somebody cares.
As a united religion, Christianity follows the belief that punishment and forgiveness can go together. Christians believe that people can forgive because God forgives us. It is the ultimate aim of a Christian to be able to follow Jesus’ example of forgiveness as he forgave those who had crucified him as he hung on the cross. If people are willing to be forgiven by God they can have a right relationship with Him and can stop worrying whether they are good enough for God. Jesus taught that people have to be ready to forgive but also that they have to be able to accept forgiveness and to be able to admit their wrong doing. A person has to be truly sorry and change their attitude, even if it does take more than one attempt. Christians try to uphold the commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself”, therefore if one loves one must forgive.
As a Christian we recite the Our Father in prayer and worship and each time we ask God for forgiveness- “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. Praying is all very well and every Christian feels obliged to pray and to thank God and ask Him for guidance but if a Christian does not act upon these prayers they are not living Jesus’ teachings and work.
In Matthew 5:38-48, Jesus concludes his teachings with “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”. Christians are compelled to carry out the work of Jesus and show compassion and forgiveness to all and in turn if they do wrong, they will realise this and turn to reformation and repentance to accept God’s forgiveness. In Luke 23:32-43 the thief was not sorry that he was dying but that he had sinned and turned to crime. He recognised that Jesus was being unfairly killed and did not deserve to die. Jesus forgave those that crucified him and the story shows that it is never too late to say sorry and repent.
In today’s society Christians like Colin Caffell has had to deal with the deaths of his wife, her foster parents and their twin sons. Evidence was finally found to convict her brother of the malicious crimes, as he hoped to inherit the family fortune from the Caffell’s. Colin’s forgiveness emotionally moved the hearts of many people. He said that he couldn’t deal with living in anger and burying himself in a want for revenge for the rest of his life. Colin said that if there was anyone to blame it would be the family but he forgives the killer and the family illness and that has put him at peace with life despite his great loss. Being able to forgive has helped Colin move on to a new chapter in his life with a new woman and baby girl, but he never forgets his sons and previous wife and regularly attends their graves. He is not betraying his wife and sons but trying to fulfil his life to the best of his ability and not locking himself in a trap of anger and grudges.
Forgiveness is not a soft option towards reformation and repentance, it must go hand in hand with justice which is merciful.
AO2 : Name one crime you consider to be serious
Explain how a Christian would want a criminal, who committed this crime, to be treated.
A crime is an action considered to be wrong and punishable by law. A sin is an act of disobedience that goes against the will of God. People do wrong for a variety of reasons. Some people will commit small crimes and if not caught and punished, the gains become habit forming. Reasons for committing such crimes may include social pressures, circumstances, personal problems or greed.
Most Churches and Christians agree that an assessment of the causes of crime are crucial, as well as the decision of how to deal with existing crime.
Christians are encouraged to follow Jesus’ view of crime and concentrate on a person’s inward honesty and morality rather than outward behaviour, be they good or bad. This is depicted in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus taught that abiding by the law is important but it was what the person was like inside that mattered more. Jesus also showed his teachings by example for when he was dying on the cross he asked God to forgive his murderers- “Forgive them Father! They don’t know what they are doing”- (Luke 23:24)
Murder is a very difficult crime on which to decide standard punishment. Some Christians believe that manslaughter is arguably a form of murder since the criminal must have been committing a less severe crime like driving over the designated speed limit if they killed an innocent pedestrian. Also if more than one person committed a planned murder, it is often found that although one of the people may not have actually performed the killing, they were still involved with the plot. However in some cases such as …………………………………………..., the assistants to the procedure of the murder have got away with manslaughter for the very reason that it wasn’t them who may have plunged a knife into a torso.
Christians lay great stress on trying to look at the motives and reasons for crime. Over the last 150 years many Christians have worked towards the idea of reforming criminals as they see the theory of reform as being the most important of all the aims of punishment.
In the case of the two young boys who brutally murdered two and a half year old Jamie Bulger, much controversy was sparked into how a pair of ten-year-old boys, still young children themselves, betrayed the innocence and trust of another child. Jesus told his apostles “Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child, will never enter it” and that “the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these”- (Mark Ch10). However Robert Thompson and John Venables drastically contradicted the words of Jesus and in the assessment of the crime, their circumstances on that day of Jamie’s death and their backgrounds were thoroughly searched for motives. It was concluded that if the pair were not together in that shopping mall on that particular day, they would not have wound each other up and had the strength to commit the crime.
Both the severity and extremity of murder is difficult for a Christian to except, but the fact that it was committed by a pair of ten year old boys, still very much children, had been exposed to an unstable background and in the process, lost their childhood innocence, and were compelled into the life of criminals. In these circumstances, punishment of the criminals is a dead end task and a Christian would look beyond, to the mental state and circumstances of the children. It was obvious that this situation was rare and extreme and that the boys clearly needed support and care to help them along the path of reformation. They were tried and sentenced in an adult court after the consideration that their crime was of adult form and imprisoned for eight years. Now at the age of eighteen, Thompson and Venables have been given new legal identities and the media will be prohibited from revealing any information about their new lives. “Having become responsible young men, they will have to live with, and will be marked by, what they did when children of 10 ... They will be ... liable to be recalled to custody for the rest of their lives if they do not comply with the terms of their licence ... It is to be hoped that this does not prevent them leading full and useful lives. So far as this is possible it is in the interest of the public that they should now do so."- Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. The punishment of the boys has been approached in a very careful and justly way and Christians would agree that at such a young age, the pair still have their whole lives ahead of them and the way forward is to introduce them back into society with the help and understanding of the community and nation.
The case of Christopher Clunis, a schizophrenic where the missing of a morning’s pills had catastrophic consequences is another case of murder where the assessment of Clunis’ mental health and situation on the day, was vital. Jayne Zito, whose husband was the unfortunate victim of Christopher Clunis condition that day, joined MIND, an organisation campaigning vigorously for the rights of mentally distressed people and for better care in the community. She helped to launch the campaign, and to "create as much public and political pressure as possible to raise awareness about mental health issues and achieve change in the system". This supporting and caring approach towards her own husbands killer touched the heart of the nation and showed a truly Christian example of forgiveness and understanding. She took into account the humanity and rights of the Clunis and knew that it would be a totally inhumane action to convict him under the circumstances of his condition and he clearly needed the care and attention of fellow members of the community, and Jayne understood that by helping him, it would relieve her pain.
The teachings of Jesus tell us as Christians to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you”. In the story of Zacchaeus (Luke Ch….), Jesus allows Zacchaeus a new start and compels him towards reform. Christians today are taught by these words of Jesus and are expected to look at each case individually on its merits and beyond the crime, to the soul inside. This way the criminal is not damaged further and they can be heard and given the chance to prove they understand the hurt and distress they have caused and are willing to accept God’s forgiveness and act upon this in society.
AO3: Evaluating Issues
“There could be no such thing as prison in a truly Christian society”
In a truly Christian society, we would not feel the need to lock people up because people wouldn’t feel compelled to commit crimes. Even in a truly Christian society, everyone is unique and there would still be some individuals who will make mistakes. Allowing these individuals to acknowledge their wrong doings through a prison system deters people and guides Christians towards reconciliation, putting people off making mistakes.
However, we do not live in a truly Christian society both in terms of deliberately committing crimes and the way society deals with criminals in a prison system. A recent victim of injustice in today’s prison system is Sally Clark, whose two babies both died of cot deaths. The system not only did not review all the possible evidence to the full, in many cases the prisoner is not even given the basic human dignity in the duration of prison life.
A Christian response to punishment and crime is love and compassion. Locking up criminals to keep them off the street and for society to feel safe, is not the answer to reformation. To punish and hide from society is damaging the criminal further. Taking a general view of the prison system, it is a place for rehabilitation and for release back into the community so that prisoners should lead a normal life again. In a truly Christian society, no one should be subject to losing all freedom in prison.
The debate really comes down to the assessment on each crime for its merits and the mental health of the prisoner. Christians should look beyond the crime to the person inside. In many cases prisoners are child-like, vulnerable and frightened. If a child was locked in a cupboard for wrong doings it would be classed as child abuse. This will often damage them further, but the strategy of alternative suggestions offers a fresh activity to centre on.
Prison is all very well, but in a Christian society prisoners should receive the support and care they need, and deterrence from crime by providing alternatives that should not include banishment to a dark and damp prison cell for days. Criminals have beliefs and faith too, it is a matter of unlocking these emotions and teaching the criminal to express these feelings and creativity through giving back something to the community.
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