Amid a national reckoning on racial injustice, restorative justice principles and practices can offer healing ways of addressing the deep harms of racial oppression and transforming the broken systems which give them rise.
The modern death penalty system in the U.S. arose from our nation's ugly histories of slavery, lynching, and racial violence. To this day, capital punishment is unfairly applied based on race and remains the most punitive practice within a infamously racist criminal legal system.
As Catholics, we understand that there is a Gospel call toward forgiveness — yet forgiveness is never an obligation, but a creative act of possibility and grace.
Together, we can work to dispel common myths about forgiveness and open up new possibilities for reconciliation and healing.
Download the policy principles below to urge our political leaders and policymakers to do all they can to respond to this crisis of COVID-19 in jails, prisons, and detention centers, specifically with regard to the following areas:
This one-page handout gives an introductory overview of restorative justice and ways that practices can be applied in various settings.
For the first time in 16 years, the federal government plans to resume the practice of capital punishment, with four executions scheduled between December 2019 and January 2020.
It is imperative that people of faith raise their voices in opposition to this regression in federal policy.
Together we can transform our communities, our Church, and our criminal justice system.
Download this letter from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and learn how all people of goodwill are called to address the evil of racism. As you read, contemplate how the most egregious example of our broken criminal justice system - the death penalty - reflects the racial discrimination and bias we are called as Catholics to dismantle.
The Catholic Church has long supported alternatives to capital punishment. Click to download this one pager which outlines the history of Catholic opposition to the death penalty and how to create a more restorative path forward.
CMN’s Mercy in Action Project gives YOU the tools you need to promote clemency for those on death row. Sign up today to start receiving monthly execution alerts.
More than 25,000 Catholics and people of faith have already pledged to educate, advocate, and pray for an end to the death penalty. Will you answer the call?
