Written by attorney Matthew T. Martens the book is advertised as answering the question: does the American justice system reflect a Christian love of neighbor? In doing so the book first seeks to offer us a biblical framework for how to think about justice for both the victim and accused. Second, it examines the history of the American justice system. Lastly, attempts to assess the criminal justice system today.
Part 1 of the book first lays out Martens’ basic framework for how to think about the criminal justice system. Martens’ view is fairly simple starting with his definition of justice as what a person is due. What is it that a person is due according to Martens? What a person is due is our love, for the second greatest commandment is to Love your neighbor as yourself. Our example for how to do so is expressed in the story of the good Samaritan who did not pass by the man in need. Starting in chapter 4 then Martens lays out five guideposts in which we can evaluate and think about the criminal justice system. These include accuracy, impartiality, due process, accountability, and proportionality.
In part 2 he moves to focus on different aspects of the American justice system starting with history. Some of the issues discussed are crime, plea bargaining, jury selection, exculpatory evidence, and death penalty etc. In each chapter Martens attempts to explain some of the issues we deal with in each of these different parts of the Justice system. He then will address those issues via the five guideposts mentioned in part 1. He then finished the book with a chapter on application and a conclusion.
Some positive things about the book I would say are the basic guideposts he uses in his evaluation. These guideposts I think establish a very agreeable and simple framework for evaluating how the justice system is functioning. A second point is the idea of moral proximity which is, “The idea is that “distance, both physical and relational, makes a significant difference in our obligations to help others.” Martens, Matthew T.. Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal (p. 97). Crossway. Kindle Edition. So the idea is that our duty to those around us is greater the closer they are relationally and physically. For instance I have a greater duty to help my brother than say, a friend of mine who lives in the next town over. A few different points he did make, somewhat changed or sharpened my views on certain issues such as bail and plea bargaining which I will continue to reflect on in the future.
Now for some of the negatives. First his definition of the Gospel at the beginning I found problematic. For he attempts to incorporate our duty to live righteously and justly as part of the Gospel as opposed to an outflow or result of the Gospel. Honestly it seemed unnecessary to begin with. I almost think the goal was to be able to justify the idea that justice is a gospel issue. The second problem is the book fails to achieve its third goal which is to assess the American criminal justice system today. The book is very heavy on the history, but I found that the majority of the book fails to provide more up to date information with regard to the current state of the criminal justice system. For a book that is supposed to be about reforming the criminal justice system the lack of current data makes it difficult to assess the current state of affairs. This is not to say there is no current data, only that the book lacks a sufficient amount. Ultimately the book really should have been named thinking about the criminal justice system as opposed to reforming the criminal justice system.
Another problem I found is the book was very short on application. The application chapter was a bit lackluster and was one the shortest chapters in the book. He lays out four different ways to apply what we learned. These include think differently, work differently (mainly for those working in criminal justice, vote differently and lastly speak differently. Now it is not that these are bad, it’s just for a book about reforming criminal justice I really expected more.
So as far as it goes I would probably give the book 6 or 7 out of 10. What I find helpful about the book is how it helped to delve deeper into this topic as someone with little to no study on the issue. It makes me want to read more, but perhaps some with a different perspective on the issue than Martens. So I think this is worth the one time read.
Springboro Apologetics 