What is the Catholic Church's position on criminal justice reform?

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Alex_H

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Hi all,

With the election approaching rapidly, I was curious as to the position of the church on criminal justice reforms specifically related to drug use.

To be clear, I am NOT advocating drug use in any way. I agree that it is bad for you and immoral.

That said, I also don’t understand why we send people to jail for many years simply because they have a substance abuse problem. These are people who need help, not jail time. I don’t see these people as criminals. They are people who need to see the love of Jesus Christ.

So I guess my question is this - has the Catholic Church spoken out about criminal justice reform for drug use?
 
I would like to the church address this too, maybe it would add some weight to the argument for an overhaul.

Its very confusing that those in power have not recognized the failure, yet when alcohol prohibition was around, didnt take long for everyone to see it was a flop, I think it has to do with our modern law enforcement agencies not wanting to admit to such a major failure, so they just keep doing the same old thing year after year, even though overdose and abuse rates skyrocket. Heroin epidemic is a key example, my state has enacted very tough new laws for this, but the latest figures show overdose and usage are increasing.

It is important that the medical and scientific communities have started to call drug addiction a disease, not a disorder, so at least they recognize this, but problem is, the DEA has so much power over doctors, they can take away licenses, ability to work, etc…that is a huge problem, doctors should be treating their patients, but instead they are constantly worrying about the DEA watching their every step.

Personally, I think law enforcement in general needs to be totally removed from the fight against drug addiction, they are not qualified to deal with this, as they continue to treat it as a crime. I think the CDC should take over and let police deal with the other criminal matters.

All this being said, there are other problems too, collusion is a major one, big pharmaceutical companies have a lot to do with treating drug addiction as a crime, its in their best interest so people cannot access certain drugs without going thru the normal, very expensive route, doctor office, pharmacies, etc.

a hypothetical scenario…lets say they suddenly discovered dandelions cured cancer, if they were ingested in some way…I have a feeling, not long after this is discovered, having dandelions without a prescription or other legal means, would be illegal, people would be forced to get them ONLY after paying a doctor, a pharmacy, etc. Of course they would use safety as the excuse for the new law, (as they do with many opiates now).
 
Alex_H said:
Hi all,

With the election approaching rapidly, I was curious as to the position of the church on criminal justice reforms specifically related to drug use.

To be clear, I am NOT advocating drug use in any way. I agree that it is bad for you and immoral.

That said, I also don’t understand why we send people to jail for many years simply because they have a substance abuse problem. These are people who need help, not jail time. I don’t see these people as criminals. They are people who need to see the love of Jesus Christ.

So I guess my question is this - has the Catholic Church spoken out about criminal justice reform for drug use?
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Other than ruling out the death penalty, Catholic teaching does not provide specific details but general conditions that reform must include.
  • Emphasis on rehabilitation, rather than punishment;
  • Preferential option for the poor - meaning that the State should ensure that persons are not wrongly convicted, or excessively sentenced, because they lack the financial means that others have;
  • Respect for the rights of families of drug users;
  • Treatment should be offered in prison when necessary, but outside prison when possible; it should be available to persons who are poor;
One problem is that sometimes there are conflicting values. At the same time the Federal government is releasing some prisoners, there is a trend for public housing projects to adopt “zero tolerance” policies on drugs. On the one hand one can argue this creates hardship, as whole families get evicted because of one incident, and are now homeless. On the other hand, the Church and State have responsibility to work towards safety in those projects, where drug use is a serious threat to everyone, and drug dealing is a strong temptation to recidivism, back to prison.

So there are competing values, both of which might claim the Church’s attention. A lot of people who support releasing drug convicted prisoners back to society live far from the neighborhoods where the majority of them will go. Also remember that most persons sentenced on drug charges were pled down from more serious charges.

The Church might point out the high percentage of mentally ill persons, including drug users, who are in prison now only because (name removed by moderator)atient psychiatric hospitals closed.
 
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