Faith and the Future of Criminal Justice Reform

Criminal justice reform has gained widespread support from both sides of the aisle. Recent studies suggest that more positive and restorative approaches – including those that foster social connectedness, service to others, spiritual experience, and personal integrity – may be more effective than traditional approaches to crime and punishment.

On October 23rd, Baylor in Washington joined cosponsors – the Sagamore Institute, the Seymour Institute, and Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion – to host a symposium on the role of faith in criminal justice.

Faith and the Future of Criminal Justice Reform featured Byron Johnson (Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and a leading scholar on the role of religion in criminal justice), Jay F. Hein (President of the Sagamore Institute and former head of the White House Office of Faith Based & Community Initiatives), Jacqueline C. Rivers (Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School and Executive Director of The Seymour Institute on Black Church and Policy Studies), Bryan Kelley (CEO of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program) and James Ackerman (CEO of Prison Fellowship).