U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS SEEK CHANGES IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 -- The nation's Roman Catholic bishops adopted abroad
but detailed statement on America's criminal justice system today, calling
both for a new commitment to rehabilitate criminals and for greater
attention to the rights and well-being of crime victims.

The document, the first major statement by the bishops on crime and
punishment in more than two decades, also reiterates the bishops'
opposition to the death penalty.

The statement offers public policy recommendations, such as opposing
"rigid" mandatory sentencing and the imprisonment of children in adult
jails, urging treatment for addicts and the mentally ill, and calling for
keeping crime victims fully apprised of legal processes and allowing them
to speak at a sentencing about how a crime has affected their lives. It
also lays out steps that parishes and dioceses can take toward improving
public safety, helping victims and ministering to the needs of prisoners
and their families.

"I see this as a major initiative that's going to engage us pastorally for
years to come," Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles and
chairman of the bishops' domestic policy committee, which wrote the
statement, said in an interview after the statement was approved.

Cardinal Mahony called the document an effort to get people to examine
crime and punishment "through a new and different lens."

Titled "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic
Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice," the statement was approved
unanimously by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has been
holding its four-day twice-yearly meeting at a Capitol Hill hotel since
Monday.

Three years in the writing, the statement draws on Scripture, Catholic
social teaching, government statistics and academic studies, as well as
testimony solicited by the bishops from Catholics who are police officers,
prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, correctional officials, victims and
criminals.

"All those whom we consulted," the bishops' statement says, "seemed to
agree on one thing: the status quo is not really working -- victims are
often ignored, offenders are often not rehabilitated, and many communities
have lost their sense of security."

In its broadest terms, it says the church "will not tolerate the crime and
violence that threatens the lives and dignity of our sisters and brothers,
and we will not give up on those who have lost their way. We seek both
justice and mercy."

To generate discussion, Cardinal Mahony said, the statement would be posted
on the bishops' Internet site, www.nccbuscc.org.

Cardinal Mahony said he believed that volunteer workers in prisons came
away with a clearer idea of prison problems, which they shared with family
members and friends, spreading receptivity to changing the system.

He also said he had seen at least one poll in California indicating support
for the death penalty had declined in that state, although a majority still
supported it. "The church has been able to stimulate conversation" around
the issue, he said, citing in particular Pope John Paul II's successful
plea to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan of Missouri, to commute the sentence of
a murderer to life in prison without parole. The request, in January 1999
while the pope was visiting St. Louis, "catapulted the whole issue into the
first rows of our pews," Cardinal Mahony said.

The bishops adopted the criminal justice statement in a morning session
laden with other business. Before the vote, they adopted a message
detailing how the church should work to welcome a new and highly diverse
wave of Catholic immigrants. The document was prepared under the direction
of Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Camden, N.J., who once headed the
migration and refugee services office of the United States Catholic
Conference.

In the same session, the bishops also adopted a short, sharply worded
declaration deploring a decision by the United States Supreme Court in June
striking down a Nebraska law that would have outlawed a late-term abortion
procedure, called "partial-birth abortion" by its opponents. To end
abortion, the bishops wrote, "We invite people of good will to explore with
us all avenues to legal reform, including a constitutional amendment."

The bishops also urged the United States and other nations to increase
their efforts to end a long civil war that has killed two million people in
Sudan.