Stuntz on Christians and Criminal Justice

A belated note of gratitude to John Breen, Bob Cochran, and the other organizers of the Law Professors' Christian Fellowship, which convened this past Saturday in New York.  There was way too much intriguing content throughout the day to comment on in a single post, so I'll highlight one of the talks.

Harvard law prof Bill Stuntz set out a Christian perspective on the American criminal justice system.  He used to believe that the core problem with American law is that it is not sufficiently grounded in moral truth.  Now he believes the problem is its severity.  He cited a litany of depressing statistics, including the increase of our prison population from 300,000 in 1970 to 2.2 million today.  American Christians, he believes, are partially responsible for the current state of affairs, not just because of the stances we've taken, but because of the issues we have neglected and the political alliances we've made.  We've gone off-track, in his view, by being too optimistic about what the law can accomplish and by underrating the importance of mercy. 

I'd like to hear more from Prof. Stuntz about whether mercy is a quality capable of implementation as national policy, as opposed to a disposition of individual actors within the criminal justice system.  (Is he advocating for laws that are merciful, or for laws that are less severe?  Is there a difference?)  There was much to ponder in his presentation, and I'm hoping it finds its way into published form soon.  It deserves a wide audience.

There was a strong showing by MoJ-ers, both at the podium (Michael S.) and in the audience, so I'll let others chime in with their reactions to the day's events.