COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Scripture calls us to learn to do right, to seek justice, and to defend the oppressed. As a Christian, I know that justice means recognizing the human capacity for growth and redemption. And as a leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, I believe that human dignity is God’s gift to every person.
That’s why I urge U.S. Sens. Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown to support the package of sentencing reform bills currently pending in Congress: The First Step Implementation Act, the COVID-19 Safer Detention Act, and the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act. These bipartisan bills would create more second chances for people in federal prisons and extend compassionate relief to some of the oldest and sickest people behind bars. People change, they grow old, and they deserve justice and mercy – our laws should reflect that.
This is a special time for the religious community. All three Abrahamic faiths -- Muslims, Jews, and Christians -- just celebrated the holy seasons of Ramadan, Passover, and Easter. In interfaith work, religious leaders come together around the concept of justice. My faith values accountability for those who have done harm to others, but also a desire for reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration.
I applaud Sen. Portman for serving as the lead Senate Republican co-sponsor of the EQUAL Act, which would end the longstanding racist disparity between crack and cocaine sentences. Now I ask that he and Sen. Brown build upon that commitment to justice. The First Step Implementation Act would build on the success of the bipartisan First Step Act and correct some of its shortcomings. Lawmakers passed the First Step Act in 2018 because they agreed that some sentencing provisions, like certain mandatory minimums for drug offenses, were unjust. But that didn’t help people who had already been sentenced under those provisions. The First Step Implementation Act would give those individuals a chance to return to their communities and loved ones, if they’ve earned it.
The First Step Implementation Act would also give more second chances to people who were convicted of crimes as children. All people change and grow, and youth especially deserve a chance at redemption.
The COVID-19 Safer Detention Act would extend compassion to some of the most vulnerable people behind bars in federal prisons. It would give more ill and elderly people a critical path to release or home confinement. It would make vulnerability to COVID-19 a grounds for compassionate release – vital as the pandemic rages on behind prison walls – and also make people convicted prior to 1987 eligible for compassionate release. Sick and elderly people pose little risk to society; they deserve our care, not the threat of death behind bars.
Nick Bates, an ordained Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. is director of the Hunger Network in Ohio.
And finally, the Prohibiting Punishment of Acquitted Conduct Act would prohibit judges from considering information during sentencing regarding acts for which defendants have been found not guilty — it should go without saying that it’s unjust to punish people for conduct for which they were acquitted.
These are modest, sensible reforms with broad bipartisan support that reflect volumes of research showing that people age out of crime. And they also reflect what so many people of faith, including Christians, strongly believe: that we all are capable of redemption, that we all deserve mercy, and that we’re all called to correct injustice. That’s why I pray that Sens. Portman and Brown support this package of bills.
Nick Bates currently serves as director of the Hunger Network in Ohio -- an ecumenical ministry that seeks to end hunger in Ohio by addressing the root causes of poverty -- and as an ordained Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is a 2012 graduate of Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Capital University Law School, where his studies focused on the intersection of religion, ethics, and law.
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