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? →

A recent post on a website sponsored by the Union for Reform Judaism urges Reform Jews to support the proposed Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123). Introduced in the United States Senate with impressive bipartisan support, the bill limits the imposition of mandatory minimum sentences especially for nonviolent drug offenders. The goal is to deal with the problems of over-criminalization and mass incarceration (the US leads the world in incarceration, both in absolute numbers and in percentage of the population). The post notes that the draconian penalties now imposed upon even nonviolent drug offenders fall disproportionately upon persons of color, though they as a group are no more likely than white people to use or sell illegal drugs. This clear racial disparity, the post says, is an offense against “Jewish values,” which is a reason why Jews in particular ought to support the reform effort.

That’s clearly a worthy goal. But troubles me is the way in which the URJ post justifies its claim that sentencing reform is in accord with “Jewish values”: Continue reading Incarceration, “Jewish Values,” and the URJ – Part One →