in this issue:
"Resisting a Culture of Punishment"

Addiction to punishment: challenging America's incarceration
An interview with Van Jones
by Ethan Flad
Activist lawyer Van Jones talks about his spiritual/political journey and his commitment to fighting police brutality and the "punishment industry," which he describes as "a howling human rights problem" in the U.S. Spanish-language version here.

Death-penalty activism: bringing faith and creativity to the struggle
by Joe Wakelee-Lynch
Through political campaigns, visits to death row, protest marches and funerals for executed prisoners, people of faith continue the long-term struggle for abolition of the death penalty.

Let my people go
An interview with Bishop Herbert Thompson, Jr.
by Marianne Arbogast
Last spring, Cincinnati erupted after the fatal shooting by police of an unarmed African-American teenager. Bishop Herbert Thompson – who issued a statement shortly afterward situating today’s prison-industrial complex in a historical perspective that includes slavery, the "Black Codes," and the post-Civil-War convict leasing system – offers his perspective on what needs to change.

Letters

Editorial Notes

Poetry

Book Review

Keeping Watch

Short Takes

Since 1917, The Witness has been examining church and society in light of faith and conscience – advocating for those denied systemic power as well as celebrating those who, in theologian William Stringfellow’s words, have found ways to "live humanly in the midst of death." With deep roots in the Episcopal Church, we are a journal of spiritual questing and theology in practice, always ready to hold our own cherished beliefs and convictions up to scrutiny.

Manuscripts: We welcome multiple submissions. Given our small staff, writers and artists receive a response only when we are able to publish.

Manuscripts will not be returned.