In honor of John Howard’s 300 birthday, Howard College of Arts and Sciences is holding a special series of events exploring justice, mercy, faith and service. Events held this semester include a screening of The Alabama Solution and a conversation with producer Beth Shelburne, “Voices of Howard College” faculty panel, and “Doing Justice, Loving Mercy” alumni discussion. In February, the college will host Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative.
John Howard, Howard College’s name’s sake and 18 century English prison reformer, believed that reform and rehabilitation was a key objective of imprisonment, rather than a strict focus on punishment. John Howard’s beliefs regarding the prison system were influenced heavily by his Christian faith, and the Christian principles of mercy and compassion for the underserved.
These issues of rehabilitative versus retributive justice in the prison system are still in debate today.
“Rehabilitative justice focuses on treating and transforming offenders so they can successfully reenter society without reoffending,” Dr. LaJuana Davis, Leslie S. Wright Chair of Law and Director of the Innocence Law Clinic at Cumberland School of Law, said.
Davis said that although the United States does not have a single criminal justice system due to the 50 states and a federal system, the country as a whole leans heavily towards the practice of retributive justice compared to other western democracies.
“The U.S. ranks near the top globally for per capita incarceration rate and imposes longer sentences,” Davis stated, “For example, life sentences without parole sentences are routine in the U.S., while they are extremely rare in most Western nations.”
On October 7, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people and wounded 32 others in a 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, would be live streamed to the public.
In an interview with Real America’s Voice, Hegseth stated that Hasan would be executed by firing squad on a Thursday at 1 p.m. at Fort Hood, because this was the time and location Hasan committed his shooting.
“He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we will make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that this is, serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth stated.
The announcement triggered online protests from many Americans, including religious leaders and bi-partisan objections among elected officials.
Archbishop Paul Coakley, President of the US Bishops’ Conference, stated “In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned, but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered.”
On Oct. 15, President Trump stated that the execution would no longer be live streamed to the public following the backlash.
Davis stated that Pete Hegseth’s comments align with the theory of retributive justice. “Secretary Hegseth’s statements reflect a retributive approach. Seeking a proportional punishment based strictly on what an offender deserves is the core idea behind retributivism,” Davis said, “Retributive justice punishes wrongdoers simply because their actions were morally wrong. It focuses on giving offenders the exact punishment they deserve.”
Among Christians, there have been many varying views on how the justice system should operate and the nature of capital punishment.
“The Catholic Church, for instance, is opposed to the death penalty under any circumstances, though 45% of white Catholics in the United States support the death penalty for murder…Strongest support for the death penalty comes from Evangelical Protestants, particularly white evangelicals, with some polls showing as high as 75% support,” Dr. David Holcomb, Professor and Chair of Samford’s Political Science Department, stated.
Pete Hegseth, who is an evangelical Christian, has implemented several controversial initiatives at the Department of Defense to integrate evangelical Christianity into Pentagon culture and operations.
“Some observers have argued that his affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches and especially the Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson explains his “crusader” rhetoric and theological justification for public executions,” Holcomb said.
Despite the live stream being called off, conversations surrounding public executions and capital punishment continue to be had, both on and off campus.
Staff Reporter
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