This is a tough read, but real and true. Too many young people with alternatives are behind bars. The percentage of young, rehabilitatible young people behind bars in the United States of America far exceeds the number of similar inmates in any other country across the globe. Something needs to be done, a fact that is definitively discussed and outlined in this book. So much can be done, easily, if the will is there, to change these statistics. The ability and the desires is there, therefore the responsibility lies with us to make it happen.

This is a must read. We really do need to rethink our current system of incarceration. We have a broken system that is in much need of help.

The author does a stellar job of detailing the history of incarceration and the problems that have developed. Along with this, the author does an amazing job of highlighting how the involvement of the church can lead to improvement. This is a must read on restorative justice.

Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique DuBois Gilliard takes a good, hard look at the history of US incarceration policies, the pipelines that lead towards incarceration (think war on drugs, zero tolerance policies in schools, systemic and institutionalized racism, discrimination, harsh immigration policies etc), and the involvement in the church within not only the history of US incarceration but also in today’s reality of terrible mass incarceration. Dominique DuBois Gilliard gives us a deeply researched, no holds barred book on how the US justice system has completely failed entire portions of the population, that it is an unfair and biased system based on profit and retribution rather than restoration, and how the church has not a good enough job in helping to fix this broken system. He then goes on to provide several solutions for the church to use that will help change the status quo and help rectify a system that otherwise will not get any better.

I’m not personally religious at all, but I was drawn to this book because, just like the title states, we need to completely rethink incarceration and look at all the options that we can to create positive change in all areas, whether it be in how we punish crime, misdemeanors and felonies, or how, as a society, we can help those who have served time to actually be given the chance to come back as humans rather than as “people who have served time”. Dominique DuBois Gilliard does a great job really digging deep down into all of the different issues that have caused today’s mass incarceration numbers, and the often times horrific conditions in which people are forced to live. The numbers don’t lie, systemic racism and archaic rules favor rich, white people when it comes to punishment for crimes committed and Dominique DuBois Gilliard uses his position as church leader to look into where the church has failed those who most needed it, and more importantly where the church can change and provide much needed restoration.

While the main thesis is based on the church’s role in incarceration and restoration, Rethinking Incarceration is in my opinion a must-read for all, not just for Christians and theologists. Whether you are religious or not it provides some great insight into how there are so many ways we can all work together to fix this system before it breaks even further.

Rethinking Incarceration was published in February 2018 by InterVarsity Press. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy!

Dominique DuBois Gilliard writes about an important topic for which there is beginning to be a greater awareness: the injustice of the prison system. In "Rethinking Incarceration," Gilliard suggests that the church has the capacity to reform the justice system - a challenge which seems overwhelming, but to which Gilliard insists the church is capable. This is a great book - and while it might require some to put their politics on hold, and perhaps even open to change - it is highly worth the read.

After I read "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson, I wanted to know more about what to do about it. I was excited to see this book about how the church could be involved in reforming the criminal justice system. Gilliard references "Just Mercy" and "The New Jim Crow" in this book and refers to his book as a sort of sequel to these important works, and I would agree. Gilliard does a good job of summing up our country's history of racial injustice and its relationship to the enormous problems in the criminal justice system. He then highlights a few areas that were not focused on in the other two books: mental health, private prisons, immigration, and the school-to-prison pipeline. He brings the church into it with a history of the church's complicity in these systems and how it relates to poor theology. Throughout, Gilliard makes a passionate plea for the church to advocate for restorative justice as it is modeled in the bible, and he thoroughly proves this way to be God's way with poignant study of scripture. Gilliard concludes the book with inspiring examples of the good work some churches are doing to fight this epidemic and implores all churches to change the way they think about justice based on better theology and a an accurate understanding of how the system is broken. I would recommend this book to every Christian and every church, especially those considering justice or prison ministries. It is just not right that the poor, young, marginalized, sick, traumatized, imprisoned, and even the criminal should be treated so poorly. It is not how Jesus taught us to love.