{"id":842,"date":"2014-05-02T15:07:10","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T20:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/?p=842"},"modified":"2015-12-03T14:33:07","modified_gmt":"2015-12-03T20:33:07","slug":"state-advocacy-spotlight-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/state-advocacy-spotlight-new-jersey\/","title":{"rendered":"State Advocacy Spotlight: New Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"author\">Sara Lilja, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM)<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"ExternalClassFDB404C960DB40B4AEB88EBF10DABEC6\">\n<h3>May 2, 2014<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Following the Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh this past summer Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM) in New Jersey is witnessing the Spirit move in our midst.\u00a0 Our state legislature and governor are ready to act on criminal justice reform, as so are we. \u00a0After the wider church agreed to its newest Social Statement, \u201cThe Church and Criminal Justice:\u00a0 Hearing the Cries\u201d we set out visiting congregations and communities hearing about the need for reform in the criminal justice system in NJ specifically in the areas of Bail and Sentencing reform, and Parole\/ Re-entry issues among others. \u00a0At the same time our elected officials were doing similar listening. \u00a0Now legislation is moving!\u00a0LOGM is supporting several bills and engaging congregations to assist these &#8220;grass roots ideas&#8221; to more through both houses, and onto the governor&#8217;s desk to be made into law.<\/p>\n<p>Through this Social Statement we are reminded that, \u201cIndividuals must be held accountable, but every person in the criminal justice system deserves to be seen and treated as a member of human communities, created in the image of God and worthy of appropriate and compassionate response. \u201c<\/p>\n<p>To this end, we are advocating for passage of the Presumptive Parole Act, which would allow for the release of certain nonviolent offenders upon their first parole eligibility Senate (Bill 677), We are also advocating for Senate Bill 947\/Assembly Bill 1910 which would restructure our bail system so that people are not held behind bars while awaiting trail simply because they cannot afford to pay for their release.\u00a0 We are also working on a bill known as \u201cThe Opportunity to Compete Act\u201d which would end the practice of asking on the front page of a job application if the applicant had ever been convicted of a crime, even before they had an interview for the job.<\/p>\n<p>These are not bills that are soft of crime, they are rather more just administration of the law so that we can reduce the number of persons held prison in our state.\u00a0 Once released exoffenders must be able to get a job and rebuild their lives with hope for a brighter future for themselves and for our communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?\u201d (Micah 6:8).<\/p>\n<p>Want to learn more about the Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry in New Jersey? Check them out on facebook (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/logmnj\">www.facebook.com\/logmnj<\/a>).\u200b<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sara Lilja, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM) May 2, 2014 &nbsp; Following the Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh this past summer Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM) in New Jersey is witnessing the Spirit move in our midst.\u00a0 Our state legislature and governor are ready to act on criminal justice reform, as so are we. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>State Advocacy Spotlight: New Jersey - ELCA Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/advocacy\/state-advocacy-spotlight-new-jersey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State Advocacy Spotlight: New Jersey - ELCA Advocacy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sara Lilja, Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM) May 2, 2014 &nbsp; Following the Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh this past summer Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry (LOGM) in New Jersey is witnessing the Spirit move in our midst.\u00a0 Our state legislature and governor are ready to act on criminal justice reform, as so are we. 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