Osler's Razor

Last year, I had the chance to testify in Congress on the subject of juvenile life without parole. I think it is a difficult question, but I am against imposing the sentence of life with no chance of parole on juvenile offenders, for the reasons I set out here.

At the hearing, Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins was testifying on the other side. Before the hearing, she came over to talk to me and the two wonderful Baylor students (Kaye Johnson and Chris Rusek) who were with me. I found her to be warm and interesting. When the time came to testify, her presentation was (properly) fierce, personal, and compelling. Her pregnant sister, Nancy, had been killed by a truly deranged 16-year-old, who is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. You can read her written testimony here. It was a pretty impressive performance.

I now have the chance to speak at the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty's big national conference in Chicago in January. I'm on a two-person panel talking about victims of capital crimes. Who's the other person? Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins sister, Jeanne, who among other things came through Yale Law a few years before me, and now works as a public defender in Cook County.

Given that I lost round one with the Bishop sisters (at least in the eyes of the Republicans on the committee), you might think that this isn't such a great pairing for me.

If you think that, you couldn't be more wrong. These social justice issues are where faith meets the world, where the challenge of Christ so often conflicts with our own heart-- the debate is too important not to have the most important stakeholders, and the strongest, most articulate among them, be a part of it. Among my many public roles, victim is not one of them, and I must listen carefully not only to those who have survived the violent death of a loved one, but to the voice of God's people in them.

If I am to hear and debate only with those of my own experience and opinion nothing is gained, and if I take on only those of lesser skills I am little more than a coward. Bring on the strong, the smart, and the fierce. The world needs me, but needs people like the Bishop Sisters more, because they fearlessly bring a defining narrative to the table.

Of course, it could be that on the topic we are discussing in January the Bishop Sisters and I are in agreement. If that happens, well, you might want to get yourself to Chicago, because if you get me and some Bishop Sister going the same way we will burn that house down.

And you don't want to miss that, do you?