In our last post, we examined a statement that appeared on a Reform Jewish website. The statement declared that “Jewish values” support current efforts to do away with the mandatory criminal sentencing regime in the United States, in particular the heavy sentences handed down to non-violent drug offenders. We argued that, aside from the merits of the proposed reform, the “values” that the statement cited (the verse Deuteronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice you shall pursue”) amount to little more than a nebulous slogan and that any substantive support that does exist in Jewish tradition is most likely to be found in the halakhah, the texts and sources of Jewish law.

All right – so who’s going to volunteer to conduct a study of the vast corpus of the halakhic literature in search of that support? (Moral of the story: be careful when you criticize!) It would be a daunting task… which is why we are fortunate that much of the work has already been done.  Continue reading Incarceration, Part 2: Is There a Jewish Approach to Criminal Sentencing Reform? →