The Scene of the Crime

Several years ago, my wife and children returned home to discover that a burglar had entered our house. The back door was broken open, and dresser drawers lay emptied on the floor of our bedroom.

The thief didn't take much because we didn't have much, but the items we lost were irreplaceable in terms of their sentimental value. Gone were the class rings my wife and I had exchanged when we were dating. So were silver dollars my grandfather had given me years ago. Also missing was a pillowcase from our bed! ("That's what the burglar used to carry his loot," the detective explained when he came to investigate.)

No one ever was arrested and charged with the crime, and compared to what others have endured, it was a relatively minor offense. But it was enough to make our family feel vulnerable and violated, for there was no way for us to correct this injustice or to reclaim our belongings.

Crime doesn't pay, but crime victims do. In 1998 incarceration of prisoners cost American taxpayers more than $31 billion. The number of juvenile arrests for violent crimes is now 49 percent higher than it was in 1984. From 1980 to 1990, Americans increased their spending on personal security systems by $32 billion.

America is now incarcerating one out of every 150 citizens. This is the highest rate in history, six to 10 times the rate of most European countries. According to Steve Rabey in Christianity Today (March 1, 1999), altogether almost 1.8 million Americans are incarcerated, "giving the land of the free the second-highest confinement rate in the world behind only Russia." Rabey also notes that "as many as 75 percent of those released from jails or prisons will be back behind bars within four years."

According to a Gallup Youth Survey taken this spring prior to the Littleton, Colorado school shootings, three out of 10 teens fear for their physical safety while in school, and seven out of 10 say they've seen people fighting each other at their schools. Six out of 10 teens believe that media portraying violence contribute to violent behavior in life, yet only about two out of 10 think their parents are very strict about what they are permitted to watch on TV (Emerging Trends, April 1999).

The picture isn't entirely bleak, however, when we consider the positive contributions made by Christian law enforcement personnel, chaplains, and volunteers who serve in prison ministry—people who take seriously the Lord's words, "I was in prison and you came to visit me" (Matthew 25:36). More than 300 communities have instituted "restorative justice" approaches, which hold criminals directly accountable, seek to repair the harm suffered by the victims, and work toward reconciliation and restitution.

God, the righteous judge, deals with every sin either by punishing it or by forgiving it. Consider the two criminals crucified with Jesus. One remained stubborn and unrepentant. The other received Christ's promise, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Calvary is the ultimate crime scene, where the innocent Son of God was killed by violent men. But God brought good even out of that terrible act. The church needs to minister to crime victims, crime perpetrators, and crime preventers, so that more people will find the heart-level rehabilitation only Calvary can provide.

The person who broke into my house? I hope he's already become a Christian. After all, a lost soul matters a lot more than a lost class ring.