Crime has a far-reaching impact. It affects families, law enforcement, the wrongly accused, and certainly the victim. When discussing criminal justice reforms, solutions should foster fairness and rehabilitative outcomes. The Catholic concept of restorative justice promotes policies that improve public safety, encourages accountability and healing, and contributes, when possible, to rehabilitation. MCC supports:

• Policies that respect crime victims, including provision of just compensation and treatment for their physical and emotional injuries.
• Policies that incentivize intensive probation programming to reduce recidivism.
• Adequate state funding to ensure accused indigent persons receive competent legal representation.
• Comprehensive reentry services to assist the formerly incarcerated to become productive members of society.
• Sentencing guidelines and parole practices that reflect an individual’s potential threat to society.
• Elimination of life without parole sentencing for juveniles convicted as adults.