Punishment Not Fitting the Crime

I wonder if anyone reading this has ever:

• Driven faster than the speed limit?
• Jaywalked?
• Cheated on their taxes?
• Urinated (of course it was an emergency) in public?
• Driven while under the influence of alcohol?
• Driven without a license?
• Driven a car with an expired registration?
• Littered?
• Driven without their seatbelt hooked?
• Pirated a TV streaming service?

Imagine, for a moment, that while committing any of these crimes you are pulled out of your car or your home by masked men armed with government issued weapons who push you facedown to the ground, possibly in front of your family, co-workers, or friends. You might try to explain that you have papers in your wallet. You might tell the men that your boss has copies of their visas if they’d just go inside and talk with the boss. They take your phone and place you in a van to drive you to an undisclosed location where you are not allowed to contact your family or an attorney.

Yes, you are guilty. But doesn’t this seem extreme?

The comments we can expect when people put stories on social media about ICE arrests are about what criminals deserve. A few of my favorites over the weekend:

If they tell you to roll your window down and you do it, they will not break it.

Let’s roll ICE!!!

I voted for lots and lots of this.

The paid protestors strike again!

Over the weekend, Willy Aceituno, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Honduras, was stopped twice in Charlotte by ICE within minutes. (See photo above.)

The first time, he was quickly released. The second time, he was asked to roll down his window which he refused and so officers broke the window in his truck and pulled him out of the car, pushed him to the ground (while he was saying “I’m a citizen.”) And then they escorted him to their van. Fortunately they realized he was telling the truth before taking him into detention.

Yes, he resisted arrest. Yes, he speaks Spanish (and not much English.)

But imagine for a moment that this happened to one of us who happens to be White, who doesn’t suffer fools gladly, who is late to work. It feels like harassment (being pulled over more than once within minutes.) It feels threatening (having someone break a window). It feels incendiary. (Why not listen to him? Why not let him show his documentation?)

The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Yes, if you are a violent criminal, it makes sense to use harsher tactics perhaps. But it’s evil to treat every person who was defending their property or overstaying their visa or committing a victimless crime as if they are Jeffrey Epstein or El Chapo.

And here’s the part when Jesus enters the conversation: Jesus granted grace to the woman at the well even though she was apparently guilty of unseemly “situationships.” (Listen to Dr. Alice Ridgill’s sermon preached today in Charlotte about Jesus and the woman.) Jesus included Judas at The Last Supper even though he knew Judas would betray him. Jesus befriended tax collectors, lepers, and other women whom righteous people rejected.

One of the essential tenets of my Reformed Christian faith is about grace. I believe that God loves us and forgives us especially when we don’t deserve it. This doesn’t mean that we break civil or religious laws with reckless abandon. It means that even when we make mistakes, even when we make bad choices God is gracious. Exhibit A:

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Can governments run themselves with such lavish grace? No. Governments do not have the same authority or holy perfection as the Creator of the world. But we can do better. We can show mercy after holding people accountable.

And in the Church we try to hold people accountable, not to punish them unmercifully but to restore them to wholeness. We try to discipline each other with an eye on resurrection.

Cruelty reigns in the world today and ICE is not the only offender by any means. But honestly the only Reign that can heal us is the Reign of God. God is perhaps the only One who doesn’t punish us according to our cosmic crimes.

Image of the scene where U.S. citizen Willy Aceituno was held by ICE after an officer broke his truck window.