Salt of the Earth: social justice news

Social justice news
October 1999

Stitching up the seamless garment
Given the widespread acceptance of the "seamless garment" approach to pro-life issues, an anti-capital punishment group is calling on the U.S. bishops to reorganize their closet. In its Sept. 8 newsletter, Catholics Against Capital Punishment (CACP) urged the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) to restructure its Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities to include death-penalty issues.

Currently, capital punishment is delegated to the Office of Social Development and World Peace, which also handles poverty issues, housing, drug abuse, child care, landmines, environmental issues and some health care issues.

"We're delighted that the bishops have taken the seamless garment approach, which says that all life is sacred," said Frank McNeirney, national coordinator with his wife, Ellen, of the Arlington, Virginia-based CACP. "We just think now it's time that they back up what they're saying."

The CACP newsletter quoted NCCB President Bishop Joseph Fiorenza from an interview in the National Catholic Reporter: "The consistent ethic of life is part of our pro-life program, and the more we teach that in all its beauty and all of its ramifications, the stronger the pro-life movement will become in this country. I think when we begin to isolate one from another, we weaken the whole pro-life program."

But McNeirney makes the argument for reorganization on more than just philosophical grounds. Although the Office of Social Development and World Peace "does a wonderful job," he said, it has a smaller budget than the pro-life office and a long list of other issues to consider.

In the newsletter editorial, the McNeirneys also cited the impact of financial contributions by groups such as the Knights of Columbus that go directly to the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities—and thus are not used in efforts to fight the death penalty. For example, this year the Knights of Columbus gave a $755,000 grant to fund the pro-life office's educational and informational efforts, the CACP newsletter said.

Gail Quinn, executive director of the Pro-Life Secretariat, said the two offices have "essentially the same budgets."

"And we both deal with a variety of issues," she added. The pro-life office also handles euthanasia, bioethics and reproductive technologies, and natural family planning, in addition to abortion and post-abortion issues. Although Quinn said she could "see the rationale" for the CACP proposal to include capital punishment in the pro-life office, she also said she didn't "see any reason it can't stay the responsibility of the Office of Social Development and World Peace."

"When you get down to it, that's the bishops' call," she said, adding that she hadn't heard any response to the suggestion from either Bishop Fiorenza or Cardinal William Keeler, who heads the Pro-Life Secretariat.

CACP's McNeirney believes a structural reorganization based on the seamless garment approach would strengthen the bishops' message against abortion by shielding abortion-opponents from charges of hypocrisy for not also defending the life of death-row inmates. "It would make their opposition to abortion so much more believable," he said.

For more information:
Catholics Against Capital Punishment
NCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities

But Quinn called that argument a "red herring," and pointed out that current church teaching—while "evolving"—still differs on abortion and capital punishment. "Abortion is always morally wrong," she said. "But what the pope seems to be saying [about capital punishment] is not that the state can never take a life, but that he doesn't see any justification at this time. But it doesn't go that next step and say that it can never be justified."

The CACP editorial encourages members to contact their local bishop, as well as Bishop Fiorenza, Cardinal Keeler, and Bishop Gabriel Montalvo, the apostolic nuncio to the United States. But McNeirney insists he isn't being critical. "We're just respectfully encouraging them to make a simple administrative change," he said. "It's just a suggestion."—Heidi Schlumpf

U.S. greenbacks for urban gun buybacks
In an attempt to get some of the estimated 200 million guns in the United States off the streets and out of homes, the Clinton administration recently proposed giving $15 million to local public housing authorities who will cooperate with police to buy back guns from the public.

The federally funded program, which resembles gun buybacks in New York, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities, aims to collect 300,000 weapons with a suggested payment of $50 apiece—preferably in the form of gift certificates for goods and services rather than cash. In many of the urban buybacks, authorities buy guns on a no questions asked basis and no identification is required, but no one who brings in a gun is given amnesty for gun-related crimes. The guns go through a check to see if they have been used in a crime, some are retained for training or other purposes, and most are later destroyed.

A spokesperson for the gun control organization Handgun Control, Inc. approves of the federal program, saying HGI "supports every effort to reduce the number of handguns on the streets of the United States. . . . [the government] understands that easily accessible guns are one of the biggest problems facing public housing residents."

A report by the Firearm Injury Center of the Medical College of Wisconsin, however, questions the effectiveness of Milwaukee's buyback program. Because of the higher prices garnered by assault-type weapons, these kinds of guns frequently make up the largest number of guns brought in by Milwaukee's buybacks. But, says an FIJ report, "Cheaply made and cheaply acquired handguns with poor reliability and minimal safety features"—which bring in low prices at buybacks—are the guns most often used in fatal shootings.

At the same time, a three-weekend buyback in the Chicago area netted about 5,300 guns, mostly handguns. The county sheriff's office spent $275,000, largely in cash but also in gift certificates. Business was so brisk in some locations that sheriff's officials ran out of money and had to give out vouchers.—Joel Schorn

Post-sentencing trials
In the last 25 years the number of prisoners in the U.S. has increased dramatically, with the incarceration rate jumping 328 percent from 1970 to 1995. By 2000 the Bureau of Justice Statistics projects that the prison population will reach 2 million.

But what is only now become apparent to some is that the rising incarceration rate means a higher number of ex-offenders returning into our communities each year. Nearly 500,000 prisoners were released in 1997 alone. The Sentencing Project, a non-profit organization that examines the use of imprisonment in the U.S., is bringing attention to some of the problems ex-offenders must overcome.

According to Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, many times people are unprepared to re-integrate into society.

"When people go to prison, they're cut off from their families and communities for the most part. In far too many cases they don't get any decent education, vocational skills, or treatment for drug addictions."

The Sentencing Project has cited research that shows ex-offenders have a higher rate of unemployment than those without criminal records. Having difficulty finding a job is partly due to a lack of technical skills, Mauer said. Even "simple" technology is new to many released prisoners, who may never have encountered a grocery store scanner.

"It's difficult for prisoners to keep up with the world, and in certain extremes it's like they've experienced a time warp," he said.

Although there is no simple solution for the many returning from prison, Mauer said keeping people out of prison in the first place is never a bad option. Statistically male teenagers are most likely to become incarcerated , while African-American males are at an even greater risk. (African American men now have a 28 percent lifetime chance of incarceration, compared to a 7 percent chance for white men, according to the Urban Institute). Strong community support through good schools, families, and job opportunities are needed so that prison doesn't seem an "inevitable part of a young man's experience," Mauer said.

"It's hard to heed the lesson that if you work hard, you'll succeed if you're looking around and seeing no opportunities," Mauer said.

Some Americans are beginning to ask if the "get-tough" policies of the last 25 years have been effective. Mauer said there have been changes within the criminal-justice system leading to more support for community policing, drug courts, and alternative sentencing.

"Things are beginning to change, but we still have some politicians who take the get-tough approach and aren't looking at any other options," Mauer said. "The real question is how to change the political consensus."—Maria Hickey

The School of Americas . . . it's back
On September 22, the House Foreign Operations Appropriations conference committee voted 8-7 to reject funding cuts to the School of Americas (SOA). This move effectively nullifies the July House vote to cut SOA funding, and it also means that the Senate conferees will not take up the issue of the SOA this year.

This vote does not affect HR732 and S873, the House and Senate bills that call for the outright closing of the SOA. Opponents of the SOA have another year to gather enough co-sponsors to bring these bills to a vote. In Chicago, the 8th Day Center for Justice encourages citizens to ask their congressional representatives to co-sponsor the legislation calling for the closure of the school.

If you do not know the names of your Representatives or Senators or if you want to find their e-mail, visit: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html.

For information about the SOA: the SOA Watch.

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