8 for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light, 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Ephesians 5:8-14
A key part of the abolition movement is educating ourselves and others about the great injustices of the US criminal-legal system. There would be no need to abolish systems that work for everyone or that serve all of society well. That’s why we must “expose” the “unfruitful works of darkness” in the criminal-legal system (Ephesians 5:11).
The pervasive cultural narrative is that police, courts, and prisons are simply aimed at achieving “law and order.” In this narrative, police successfully investigate every significant crime, arrest the right person every time, and convict them swiftly — typically before the end of a 60-minute TV episode. The convicted criminal then receives the “just” punishment of incarceration to “pay their debt to society.”
The problem with this narrative is that it isn’t true. The reality is far messier (at its best) and far more sinister (at its worst). Even the individuals in these systems who bring the best of intentions fail to get it right because the sinful systems are stacked against the accused. The truth is that, according to FBI data, police only make arrests on a fraction of all reported crimes, and less than half of reported violent crimes. Police and courts are demonstrably biased against Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people and against poor people. Convictions are sometimes rushed through using sloppy evidence and insufficient defense. And prisoners themselves experience horrible conditions in most carceral facilities, including economic exploitation, malnutrition, abuse from guards and other prisoners, torture such as solitary confinement, and even the death penalty. Ephesians tells us that “the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true,” and very little about the criminal-legal system fits that description (5:9).
Instead, the evils of the criminal-legal system are whitewashed with propaganda from the media, politicians of all stripes, and even religious leaders. But our calling is not to remain in the darkness; it is to step into the light of Christ, the light of the Holy Spirit. Again Ephesians says, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them” (5:11). As Christian abolitionists, it is our responsibility to expose what is evil in our midst. It’s our responsibility to share the stories of people who have been chewed up and spit out by prisons, police, and courts. It’s our responsibility to commit ourselves to “speaking the truth in love,” when it comes to abolishing these unjust systems (Ephesians 4:15).
The Rev. Guillermo A. Arboleda is the rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Savannah, GA, and the Missioner for Racial Justice of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.