This article is part of Shared Justice’s Transformative Justice series running throughout January and February. The series explores one of the most urgent areas for reform within the juvenile justice system: juvenile probation. Focusing on promising practices in diversion and prevention, including Credible Messenger Mentoring, the series will highlight opportunities for government and civil society to create a juvenile justice system that is more equitable, effective, and restorative. In the Gospels, Jesus regularly spoke in parables that those around him struggled to piece together, frequently misunderstanding his words about wealth, power, sin, and so forth. But Jesus also spoke quite plainly […]

The Build Back Better Act (BBBA—H.R. 5376) proposes greatly increased federal subsidies for child care and a new, free, universal pre-kindergarten program. These programs are intended to attract faith-based providers, along with other public and private organizations, but the language in the House-passed BBBA includes many elements that would make it impossible for many faith-based providers to participate. Two major recent developments have occurred. On December 11, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released revised language, which eliminates some of the problems by removing the proposed nondiscrimination requirements that would have banned religious hiring and religiously selective admissions in […]

We are in a season of Advent, where we are invited to embrace the posture of waiting. An oft-cited theological short-hand for this orientation, particularly within neo-Kuyperian circles, is “now and net yet.” Advent is a microcosm of the human condition, as understood through a Christian lens. God is with us. And the fullness of redemption in God is yet to come. The sacred paradox reveals both are true. Mary’s immaculate conception, like Advent itself, is a now and a not yet.  TOWARDS AN ORIENTATION OF WITH-NESS Mary gives witness to the physical embodiment of these truths: the unborn Christ in […]

In 2014, Shaniz West, a resident of Caldwell, Idaho, arrived at her home only to find that it had been surrounded by several local police officers. The officers were searching for her ex-boyfriend, and Shaniz allowed them to search her home. She had no reason to believe the officers would do what they did next. Rather than conduct a routine search, the officers called in a SWAT team that proceeded to shotgun tear gas grenades into the home, destroying all its contents. Her ex-boyfriend was nowhere to be found. Shaniz was now homeless, and she sued for damages. In the trial […]

Transforming Juvenile Probation is an Instagram Live series hosted by the Center for Public Justice. Throughout the month of June, CPJ’s Juvenile Justice Fellow Yasmine Arrington will interview four experts in the field to discuss juvenile probation, why reform is needed, and the role the faith community can play. Tune in each Tuesday at noon EST at @centerpublicjustice. In the final episode of Transforming Juvenile Probation, Yasmine Arrington interviewed Dr. Tracee Perryman, executive director and co-founder of the Center of Hope Family Services in Toledo, Ohio. Throughout their conversation, Yasmine and Dr. Perryman discuss the role of faith-based leaders and faith-based […]