Justice That Restores

Colson contends that a system of true justice can be built only if it is based on the foundation of a sound worldview. What we believe as individuals about the value of life, the essence of human nature, and the possibility of redemption is the critical issue that determines an effective approach to justice and reform. Since his incarceration in the aftermath of Watergate, Chuck Colson has lived and worked for a great to transform the hearts and minds of prisoners and their families. Through the course of his work over twenty-five years, he has also prophetically critiqued the failures of the criminal justice system and the moral state of our culture, which, he argues, has caused crime to surge.In this readable and challenging work, Colson combines his personal experience, his extensive study of the justice system and efforts at prison reform, and his encounters with prisoners themselves. Justice That Restores is insightful and prophetic, offering compelling answers to the failures of America's system of justice.This country is at a crossroads, he argues, and needs a whole new philosophy of criminal justice. Both conservatives and liberals have produced expensive prisons and justice systems that miss the mark. We are spending more on building prisons than on schools; we have the second largest incarceration rate per capita in the world; inequities and injustices in the system abound. America needs to do something. NOW. What is the Answer?The answer is found in the lives of Leon and Danny and Don, whose stories are told here, as well as in the experiences Colson and his colleagues have had in thousands of prisons. The answer lies fundamentally deep down inside the values that our culture embraces. We'll never solve the crime problem, Colson argues, until we solve the moral issues that afflict our families and our society.