April is Second Chance Awareness Month recognizing the need to eliminate stigmas, remove transition barriers and improve the dignity of more than 70 million Americans in the U.S. criminal justice system who carry a criminal record.
According to the Center for American Progress, 2023 roughly one in three people in the United States are former convicted criminals. In addition, there are millions more currently held in jails, prisons, and detention facilities across the country, who will face significant hurdles to obtain housing, employment and personal security once released.
At the end of 2023, correctional authorities in the United States held jurisdiction over more than 1.25 million persons in state or federal prisons, while an additional 650,000 languished in local jails, often because of prohibitively high cash bail according to Prison Policy Initiative, 2024.
Disturbingly, 70% of the jail population, nearly 468,000 individuals, were not convicted but waiting for court action, meaning many people in jail have not been found guilty of any crime according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as cited in The World Data, 2025. This is not the portrait of a system oriented toward restoration. It is the portrait of a system oriented toward containment and punishment.
As United Methodists, observing Second Chance Awareness Month is not merely a civic occasion but a theological imperative. It offers the church an opportunity to proclaim and provide public witness for a legal system that restores community ties, ensures fair sentencing, and removes the barriers that continue to punish people who have already completed their sentences. Mass incarceration is not only a justice crisis; it is a family crisis and a community crisis.
UMC Criminal Justice Social Principles Point of View
The 2025–2028 Social Principles affirm that every person bears inherent worth as a child of God and call the church to pursue a criminal legal system oriented toward rehabilitation, restoration, and the common good rather than punishment.
The UMC Criminal Justice Social Principle explicitly states: “We encourage systemic monitoring for prejudice and bias in all criminal justice systems. We further support access to competent legal representation for people who are accused and/or convicted of criminal acts” (The United Methodist Church, 2025, Paragraph E).
Actions to Pursue a Criminal Justice System of Restoration
There are concrete ways United Methodists can translate a Criminal Justice theological vision of restoration into federal advocacy.
Congregations and annual conferences should urge their members of Congress to co-sponsor legislation such as the Smarter Pretrial Detention for Drug Charges Act of 2026 and the First Step Implementation Act of 2025.
The General Board of Church and Society also offers the opportunity to join a criminal justice working group that meets monthly to share and strategize methods of engagement. United Methodists are invited to contact GBCS at [email protected] to learn more.
This content was originally published by the General Board of Church and Society; republished with permission on ResourceUMC.org on April 24, 2026.