We are Evangelicals and we recognize that every person is created in the image of God, and therefore all life has immeasurable value. We believe that our justice system should reflect this truth, and that every individual should be treated with respect and dignity.
Our current justice system, and our responses to violence in particular, have not lived up to this vision and instead have delivered further pain and harm to communities. We need new responses to violence that address trauma, advance racial equity, and fulfill the promise of healing, safety, and restoration for all.
We may not agree on all of the details, but we stand united around these basic principles in our quest for justice:
- Healing for individuals and communities harmed by violence is an essential component of justice. Crime survivors should have the supports and resources they need to rebuild their lives.
- We recognize that those who hurt others have also often suffered from significant past harm. While this does not excuse their actions, it does mean that they, too, need the supports and resources to heal, address their trauma, and rebuild their lives.
- Violence is not the inevitable behavior of intrinsically evil people. We should invest in prevention that tackles root causes, including trauma-informed and public health approaches that have shown results.
- Systems of accountability should support people in their work towards restoration and redemption. Restorative justice should be used more widely. A sentence like the death penalty leaves no room at all for such change, and should be ended.
- People of color have borne the brunt of many of the justice system’s flaws. The justice system should not be a tool to further racial inequity or any other disparities.
It’s time for our justice system to be the solution instead of the problem. In working toward this goal, Micah 6:8 should be our guide: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
FEATURED CAMPAIGNS:
The Death Penalty in the U.S.
&
Building Community-Centered Public Safety Ecosystems
We’ve learned a lot about the death penalty in the last 40 years. For four decades, we have tinkered with the death penalty in an effort to make it fair, accurate, and effective. Yet the system continues to fail.
Since 1973, at least 196 people have been freed after evidence revealed that they were sentenced to die for crimes they did not commit. That’s more than one innocent person exonerated for every ten who have been executed.
To be meaningful, justice should be swift and sure. The death penalty is neither. It prolongs pain for victims’ families, dragging them through an agonizing and lengthy process that promises an execution at the beginning but often results in a different sentence in the end.
Just one percent of murders in the United States have resulted in a death sentence over the last decade. But are those individuals truly the “worst of the worst” — or simply those with the worst lawyers, the wrong geographic location, or the wrong skin color?
We are breaking cycles of trauma by promoting and strengthening alternative responses to violence. When we succeed, we will transform justice from a system of punishment and harm to one of healing, equity, and genuine accountability. Click here for our theology around death penalty repeal and building community-centered public safety ecosystems.
FOUNDING SUPPORTERS
Lisa Sharon Harper
Freedom Road
Washington, DC
Eugene Cho
One Day’s Wages
Seattle, WA
Shane Claiborne
Red Letter Christians
Philadelphia, PA
Joel Hunter
Community Resource Network
Longwood, FL
Ken Wytsma
Kilns College; Author
Bend, OR
Gabriel Salguero
National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Orlando, FL
Jeanette Salguero
National Latino Evangelical Coalition
Orlando, FL
Brian McLaren
Convergence Leadership Project
Marco Island, FL
Lynne Hybels
Author and Activist
South Barrington, IL
Jonathan Merritt
Author and Contributing Editor
Brooklyn, NY
Demetrius Minor
National Advisory Council of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network
St. Petersburg, FL
Sarah Withrow King
CreatureKind
Eugene, OR
Karen Swanson
Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College
Wheaton, IL
Fisher Humphreys
Samford University
Birmingham, AL
Alan Warneke
Former Montana Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God
Billings, MT
Tony Campolo
Red Letter Christians
St. Davids, PA
Rev. Robert Schenck, D.Min.
The Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute
Washington, DC
Kristyn Komarnicki
Evangelicals for Social Action, The Sider Center at Eastern University
Philadelphia, PA
Carlos Malave
Christian Churches Together
Louisville, KY
ABOUT US
The EJUSA Evangelical Network promotes a justice system centered on redemption and healing.
Equal Justice USA is a national organization working to transform the justice system by promoting responses to violence that break cycles of trauma. We have worked with Evangelical leaders across the nation since 2011, leading the way in engaging Evangelicals to speak out against the death penalty. We partnered with the National Latino Evangelical Coalition as their board unanimously voted for a position to repeal the death penalty, and we worked with members of the National Association of Evangelicals as they changed the pro-death penalty position they had held for 40 years. We have hosted events at Evangelical institutions such as Wheaton College and Calvin College, and at Northland, the largest mega-church in Florida. Our Evangelical Network unites Evangelicals under a bold vision of justice transformation, so that violence is rare and every community is safe and healthy.
Sam Heath, Manager, Evangelical Network
Sam leads EJUSA’s Evangelical Network. His faith background in Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, and now Anglican denominations enables him to tell stories about the realities of justice and injustice in America and hold together a view of the world as a place both exceptional and exploitative. He was a church elder in Charlottesville, VA for 6 years, where he still lives with his wife and three kids. Before coming on board with EJUSA in 2021, Sam taught high school history for 10 years in North Carolina and Virginia. He has a B.A. in education and psychology from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a master’s in theology from the University of Virginia.
Contact Sam at samh@ejusa.org