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Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice (Christian Peace Shelf)
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$ 14.39
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| Item Number |
133089 |
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Item Description...
Crime victims have many needs, most of which our criminal justice system ignores. In fact, the justice system often increases the injury. Offenders are less ignored by this system, but their real needs -- for accountability, for closure, for healing -- are also left unaddressed.Such failures are not accidental, but are inherent in the very definitions and assumptions which govern our thinking about crime and justice. Howard Zehr, director of the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Office of Criminal Justice, proposes a "restorative" model which is more consistent with experience, with the past, and with the biblical tradition. Based on the needs of victims and offenders, he takes into account recent studies and biblical principles.
Gift of Grace Books was established to glorify God in thanksgiving for his abundant grace.
2 Corinthians 4:15 "All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God." |
Item Specifications...
Pages 291
Dimensions: Length: 8.24" Width: 5.46" Height: 0.7"
Weight: 0.87 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Mar 1, 1990
Publisher Herald Press
ISBN 0836135121
EAN 9780836135121
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Availability 9 units.
Availability accurate as of May 24, 2012 11:44.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | A Better Means of Justice? Dec 18, 2005 |
This book was handed to my by the religious leader of my church after a discussion regarding my son's legal problems.
In this book Zehr takes issue with the current system, which many claim is based on the Old Testament of the Bible. He views the criminal justice system as one which has been built on retributive justice. This system is built on retribution, the "eye for an eye" viewpoint. Zehr raises several substantial questions:
Is the retribution system working as a deterrent to crime?
Is the retribution system truly in line with the ideas of the Bible -- both Old and New Testaments?
Does the retribution system really help the victim?
Does "punishment" really rehabilitate the offender?
Moving forward Zehr then talks about a restorative system of justice. This system of justice is more akin to our civil courts than our criminal courts. Rather than being a crime against the state, the action of the offender is regarded as a crime against a person. Both victim and offender see each other. If done well, both victim and offender come to know each other as people, not just faceless stereotypes. This step alone can make a huge difference. For the victim, it's a chance to express his or her sense of violation. For the offender, it's a chance to understand that he or she hurt a person, not just the owner of a house that he or she ripped off.
Zehr realizes that he is wrestling with a utopian ideal. Restorative justice is far easier for us to accord to those who have done crimes such as burglary (unless you have been a victim of one and understand how violating the event can be). But what about the more brutal crimes of rape, child molestation or murder? Zehr believes the system needs substantial revamping in these ways as well, but acknowledges it is a much more difficult solution.
Food for thought. | | |  | The best introduction to restorative justice Jun 3, 2002 |
| Zehr's classic work is the best introduction to the concepts of restorative justice. "Changing Lenses" details the abuses of our current retributive justice system and proposes a new (and old) biblical, practical and indispensible vision for a criminal system that restores justice. Zehr combines his theological and intellectual insights with his experience as founder of the first victim-offender mediation program in the United States. No one interested in mediation or criminal justice should be without this book. | | |  | Changing Lenses, A review Jun 3, 2000 |
| Howard Zehr is a christian who is is compassionate towards people caught up in the criminal justice system. Zehr looks at the criminal justice system from different perspectives: from the offender's and the victim's perspectives. He points out that there is tragedy in the number of people caught up in the justice system. | | | Write your own review about Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice (Christian Peace Shelf)
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