Prison Reform

ELCA Churchwide Assembly Action CA03.06.41

Resolved
To receive the memorials of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, the South- Central Synod of Wisconsin, and the Rocky Mountain Synod requesting a social statement on prison reform;

To encourage congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to study the social statement “The Death Penalty” and the 1994 ELCA message on “Community Violence”;

To encourage this church’s advocacy offices to continue to work for prison reform; and

To acknowledge the April 2003 action (CC03.04.27a and CC03.04.27b) of the ELCA Church Council as the response of this assembly to the synods’ memorials:

To acknowledge the response of the Division for Church in Society to the resolution from
the Greater Milwaukee Synod requesting a social statement on prisons as the response to this resolution from the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin . . . ;

To commend the Greater Milwaukee Synod and the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin
or raising the concern of prison reform and for calling upon their member congregations to seek creative ways to be involved in prison ministry and to address prison issues;

To encourage ELCA congregations and members to study and use Criminal Justice
Ministry: A Congregational Handbook for Jail and Prison Ministry; and

To decline to develop a social statement on prison reform at this time.