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Abstract: 

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) have recently been formally identified as a vehicle to increase the role of the community as well as to promote restorative justice principles and practices when implementing such programs for offenders. Although FBOs have been working with the criminal and juvenile justice systems for decades, recent calls by top administrators have provided funding and other “legitimate” opportunities for providing services. The latest recommendations for faith-based initiatives encourage increased interaction between government and service providers to assist with collaboration and to ensure that both financial and nonfinancial resources are available and used efficiently. As with any “new” initiative, there is always a concern that programs be implemented correctly, use best practices, and (if applicable) complete the tasks laid out by the founder. There is a growing body of literature discussing outcome evaluations and program completion studies involving faith-based groups. Such evaluations are premature, however, if the programs themselves are not implemented properly.

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Affiliations:  1: University of Central Missouri Department of Criminal Justice; 2: Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church.