Help pass justice reforms in the States! Please join us in urging legislators to pass these important reforms in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

The United States locks up too many people. Globally, the average incarceration rate is 125 prisoners per 100,000 people. The United States arrest rate is 743 per 100,000. This gives the U.S. the highest incarceration rate on Earth.

A recent article in The Christian Century says America seems to enjoy locking people in prison.

Evangelical Christianity lost one of its most eloquent and influential voices on Saturday, April 21, 2012 with the passing of Charles W. “Chuck” Colson. After a brief illness, Colson passed away at a Northern Virginia hospital with his wife and family at his bedside.

Writing for The Huffington Post, Molly Gill of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) asks a great question, “How would Jesus want us to punish?”

Scripture is filled with depicting God’s hatred for unfairly weighed measuring scales. Gill makes clear, “Those scales include the scales of justice used in our courthouses…..

The New York Times has a new feature called “Room for Debate,” which invites outside contributors to discuss current news events and issues facing the culture. This week, Craig DeRoche, former House Speaker of Michigan and now Director of External Affairs at Justice Fellowship, contributes his first column on A Failing Criminal Justice System.

Craig DeRoche, former Michigan Speaker and now Director of External Affairs at Justice Fellowship talks to Michigan Matters host Carol Cain about his issues due to alcoholism as well as the problems and remedies of America’s prison system. Click here to see the full interview.

Over 2.2 million juveniles are arrested each year in America. That’s equivalent to arresting the average student body population at 3,116 high schools each year. Yes, you read correctly, I said “high schools.” To arrest this many teens is dangerous to society.

We lock away too many juvenile offenders for too long and it’s costing our kids and our money. Our goal must be to provide real and lasting opportunities for change in these teens who commit crimes.

While Justice Fellowship works for juveniles to be accountable for crimes committed, we also understand that warehousing juveniles away from society, and in some cases with adults, does more harm than good.

LANSDOWNE, VA, December 20, 2011—Justice Fellowship announces the appointment of Craig DeRoche, former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, as their Director of External Affairs. DeRoche will work with federal and state officials to reform the criminal justice system.

Imagine committing a crime, serving your time in prison and being released for time served. Now, you think your problems are over, but your problems are only beginning.

Erika L. Wood, writing for The New York Times, reveals the difficulties that arise upon leaving prison and re-joining the community.

Pat Nolan, Vice President of Prison Fellowship, writes in a recent editorial for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that prison work programs provide many benefits, but Nolan cautions that not all programs are equal.

Nolan writes of inmates’ lives and the importance of having a job:

Our mothers told us that “idle hands are the devil’s playground.”

Over 700,000 prisoners are released from prison each year.

Most people enter prison with little job experience or education. Many are placed behind bars which are hundreds of miles from family. Think about the difficulty of maintaining a relationship from miles away and behind bars.

Writing for the New Orleans City Business, Richard A. Webster details one prison where inmates are treated with constant verbal abuse and vicious beatings. While we understand this doesn’t happen in every prison, if it’s happening in one prison, it’s happening too much.

In a statement released today, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., Henry Juszkiewicz, has endorsed the Right on Crime’s Statement of Principles. Justice Fellowship partners with the Right on Crime initiative for criminal justice solutions.

Explaining why he endorsed the Right on Crime principles, Juszkiezicz said:

“I am proud to endorse Right on Crime.