I didn’t know there was one of these in Massachusetts

Here is the Globe article on the African-American police chief in Holyoke who has called for picketing of courthouses, proposed legislation to put judges’ names on ballots every six years, and created a website listing judicial decisions that he deems bad. His campaign gives voice to an age-old concern that criminals arrested at great expense and danger to strained police departments routinely slip through the cracks once they reach the court system.

Once again, Christians are called to reflect on the role of the state. In the US the state is largely looked upon as the dispenser of largesse. It’s role in justice is increasingly suspect with little support from the citizenry. But without a fixed purpose of justice our capacity to sustain a cohesive society is diminished. And it is the poor who suffer most as they are unable to flee crime and raise their children in safe schools and neighborhoods. It is a national scandal what they are submitted to.

The answer given by some is to focus on education and vocational opportunity. These are necessary. But this will only give them the opportunity to leave crime-ridden areas. What should be the case is that in America there is no such thing as a crime-ridden area. Love demands it. It can be done. We have no will to do it.