Matthew Martens – A Christian Case for Criminal Justice Reform The Glenn Show

PREORDER Glenn's memoir, LATE ADMISSIONS: CONFESSIONS OF A BLACK CONSERVATIVE. Available here or wherever you get your books: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881349
0:00 Matthew’s theological perspective on criminal justice
5:28 Loving the criminal offender
8:10 25 years for an ounce-and-a-half of marijuana?
14:59 Christianity and the legal use of force
20:39 Matthew: I cannot enter the public square without considering my faith
24:48 Determining justice in a fallen world
29:35 What’s wrong with criminal justice today?
31:48 The problem of prosecutorial immunity
38:43 Matthew’s take on George Floyd
43:16 Has the criminal justice system truly reformed itself on race matters?
50:00 The denial of bail and the denial of justice
56:37 Matthew: We don’t have quick, accurate, reliable verdicts
1:02:41 Why Matthew opposes the death penalty “as currently practiced in the United States”
1:08:21 How ordinary Americans can help
Recorded February 28, 2024
Links and Readings
Matthew’s book, Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal
Richard John Neuhaus’s book, The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America
Philip Gorski, American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present
National Register of Exonerations
St. Irenaeus’s Against Heresies
Kellen Funk and Sandra Mayson’s Harvard Law Review article, “Bail at the Founding”


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit glennloury.substack.com/subscribe