Panelists to discuss criminal justice, faith

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - April 4, 2012) A panel featuring California Lutheran University faculty and students will discuss an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America draft statement on faith and criminal justice as part of the Sixth Annual Festival of Scholars.

A panel discussion on "Hope for All: Faith and Criminal Justice" will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, April 23, in Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus. An ELCA synod hearing on the draft statement will follow at 8:30 p.m.

On March 15, the ELCA released a draft social statement on criminal justice that addresses law enforcement, the judicial and correctional systems, and related social issues and pastoral concerns. While the ELCA affirms the fundamental principles of the U.S. criminal justice system, the draft says reform is needed to address overly harsh sentencing, persistent inequalities based on race and class, and other issues. The ELCA Criminal Justice Task Force will consider feedback from the hearings while developing a revised statement.

Task force consultant Victor Thasiah, an assistant professor of religion at CLU, will moderate the discussion on the development of the ELCA social policy and teaching. Before joining the CLU faculty, Thasiah served as the director of social policy at the national ELCA office and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.

Panelists will include assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology Molly George, whose current research explores the sociological and criminological dynamics of immigration enforcement and detention, and assistant professor of religion Colleen Windham-Hughes, the director of CLU's new Theology and Christian Leadership Program. The panel will also include Ojai resident Anamaria Schmid, a member of the Criminal Justice Task Force who specializes in public interest law. The student panelists are senior criminal justice major Casey Hickman of Texas and junior political science major and Associated Students of CLU President
Jesse McClain of Hemet.

The weeklong Festival of Scholars showcases scholarly work of undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Education and the School of Management.

Lundring Events Center is located in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard.

For more information on the free event, contact Victor Thasiah at vthasiah@callutheran.edu.