122: Should the Gov Punish or Reform Criminals?

In this episode Pastor Raef considers the historic Biblical perspective on the government’s responsibility when it comes to crime and punishment which aim to punish criminals, and compares it to modern progressive visions of criminology which seek to pity the criminal and punish the society that created the criminal.  The conversation is largely rooted in Herman Bavinck’s work in his Reformed Dogmatics in which he directly tackles this question. For a treatment on this chapter from Bavinck see: https://raefchenery.com/2024/08/06/should-retribution-or-reformation-be-at-the-center-of-our-criminal-justice-system/