Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “The Potential Religious Context of The Fourth Amendment” Peter Wosnik James Madison first introduced the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Congress in 1789. Since that time, the Fourth Amendment has become a bedrock in criminal procedure in American constitutional law. Thousands of state and federal cases…
Southern Baptist Church by Warren LeMay (CC0 1.0) In May of 2022, the news broke that the US Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had released an independent report investigating the SBC’s handling of sexual harassment and assault by clergy and other employees of SBC-affiliated churches. The report described an institution that prioritized avoiding liability, was callous…
Crimesploitation: Crime, Punishment, and Pleasure on Reality Televisionby Paul Kaplan and Daniel LaChance No reality television program about crime and punishment satisfied a hunger to see inmates as redeemable more than the A&E network’s most watched show, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Over the course of 246 episodes that aired from 2004 to 2012, the show…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “The Supreme Court Expands the Rights of Prisoners Facing Execution” Peter Wosnik Religious liberty claims in death penalty cases have been an active area of litigation in the Supreme Court over the last several years. In a recent line of cases, the Supreme Court has clarified both a…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “What Theological Roots of Reasonable Doubt Might Teach Us” Peter Wosnik Unlike some esoteric legal terms, the term “reasonable doubt” is familiar to most Americans. Anyone who has sat in jury service in a criminal trial or watched a legal drama has likely encountered the phrase. What many…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “Harold J. Berman on the Revitalization of Criminal Law and Religion” Peter Wosnik The age we live in can be defined in part by its skepticism: skepticism of our national history, of our traditions, of our institutions. Commentators from various ideological persuasions have bemoaned the collapse of important…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “What has Christianity to do with Criminal Law?” Peter Wosnik Released in 2020 by Routledge Press, Christianity and Criminal Law provides a veritable trove of insights into this important area of study. Not only does the work show the historical influence of Christianity on the development of modern…
Caring for Aging, Dying, and Dead Prisoners A Summary of Prison Chaplains on the Beat in US and UK Prisons George Walters-Sleyon, PhD. I believe that chaplaincy in prison is a calling. It is ministry, which is real, raw, diverse, illuminating, enlightening, humbling, stimulating, unpredictable, diverse, and challenging. Chaplains in prison need to have their…
Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash. Holidays are not the same for everyone, not even in prison. No matter what the constitutional principle of equality says, holidays are not the same for everyone. For the wealthy, holidays present an opportunity to travel and relax with their loved ones. On the other hand, for those who…
Photo of Lady Justice (Pixabay). In 2021, Johan D. van der Vyver, I.T. Cohen Professor of International Law and Human Rights at the Emory University School of Law, published a three-volume treatise on international criminal law. Volume One deals with The History and Structures of the International Criminal Court; Volume Two is devoted to Crimes within the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court;…