Stories

When crime happens, it touches many lives in many ways, forming different perspectives. This diversity of perspectives may create tension, and there is a danger if we attempt to over simplify complex issues by raising up one perspective as more valid than another. In Hearing the Cries: Faith and Criminal Justice we listen to many perspectives, allowing each to teach us something about the human being behind the voice and to help us determine, as a Church, how we will respond. Here are a few of those perspectives, those stories. The stories and responses on this page are part the work of the ELCA Task Force on Criminal Justice and should not be interpreted as representing official views or policy of the ELCA.

 

		Maggie, Family of an Incarcerated Individual We aren’t a bad family, and I’m not a bad mother. I know it looks that way. I’ve got problems, but so does everybody else....
		Tim, a Police Officer Making a Decision The speed limit was 55, and he was going 73. Refusing to pull over, now he’s doing 90 down two-lane roads, running red lights, and weaving in and out of traffic....
		Roy, a Judge Working with Young Male Defendants When I was first assigned to criminal cases, I took a lot of care. I noticed that most of the defendants were young black and Hispanic men....