Be Merciful As Your Heavenly Father Is Merciful
By: Dale Recinella
I remember the day.
I will never forget the moment.
It was last year about this time (November 3, 1998).
For a week the entire Jacksonville area had been united in a massive search for
an eight year-old girl named Maddie Clifton. She had been out of her parents’
sight for only fifteen minutes. She had vanished into thin air. In her own
neighborhood. Within steps of her own house. It was every loving parent’s worst
nightmare.
Northeast Florida was covered with purple ribbons, the symbol of unity in the
effort to find this beautiful little girl. One could feel the entire area
praying with a single heart, breathing with a common breath, hoping with a
shared faith.
I was driving to the prison on Highway 121 south. The spot was about halfway
between Mud Lake Road and the tri-county dump site, near the Baker-Union County
line. Sheriff Nat Glover had announced a press conference. The radio was on.
Probably almost a million people were glued to their radio or their television
right then, listening with one ear in the shadows of a shared fear. He began in
a low and forced voice. We could all feel the pain he was stifling. A grief
descended like a pall on northeast Florida.
Maddie‘s body had been found. She had been murdered by the fourteen year-old boy
across the street. Her body was hidden underneath his waterbed.
Tears welled from my eyes as my nails dug into the steering wheel. I could feel
the scream and the rage in my spirit. It seemed to be my part of the shared
agony wrenching our entire community.
Once in the prison parking lot, I seriously contemplated just going back home.
That morning, it was beyond my power to walk the distance to death row and pass
out communion. That morning, it was beyond my strength or my ability to face men
who had done such things to others’ loved ones and to see the image of God in
them.
But many years ago, a priest had taught me a prayer that was the antidote for
the moment. “Jesus, move my feet.” I said it. He did it. And He carried me in to
minister to His children inside.
In the year that has passed, there has been a great deal of media coverage about
the case. The young man who committed the crime was tried as an adult and
sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The local press pandered the expected, dehumanizing him with adjectives like
“monster” and disseminating quotes from local folks lamenting that the child
murderer could not be “fried.” Just like me, many others had no strength in
themselves to deal with such horrendous evil.
But through it all, one press item struck me, challenged me, humbled me more
than any other. It was a letter to the editor of the local paper written by the
aunt and uncle of the murdered girl after the trial of the young man.
“Thank God that Joshua Phillips was too young by law for the death penalty….His
mother states he is already a Christian….We pray this is so and that [his]
eternity is secure in God….As for God being love, ‘administering justice’ while
‘willing to forgive,’ few have had the awful privilege of experiencing and
coming to a fuller understanding of those attributes than our family.”
Our community members with the greatest claim to rage and vengeance had chosen
to yield to God’s mercy.
Evil had been vanquished.
All of us who dared to look glimpsed the Light of the Kingdom of God breaking in
through the darkness.
Gangs: Press release and links
http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/press/ojp11598.html
Juvenile violence prevention and intervention
http://www.ncjfcj.unr.edu/homepage/g4.html
National Criminal Justice Reference Service
http://www.ncjrs.org/jjhome.htm
"Early Warning: Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools," produced by the
Office of Special Education Rehabilitative Services and the Office of Special
education Programs, U.S. Department of Education.
http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSERS/OSEP/earlywrn.html
"Little Criminals" from PBS "Frontline" (Contains many informative links)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/little/
On-line Magazine of Juvenile Justice
http://www.juvenilejustice.com/
Article from the American Bar Association on Trends toward Trying Juveniles as
Adults
http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/12-2shep.html
The Campaign for an Effective Crime Policy (includes section on juvenile
justice)
http://crimepolicy.org/pubs.html
"Delinquents or Criminals: Policy Options for Young Offenders" Article from The
Urban Institute.
http://www.urban.org/crime/delinq.html
Juveniles in adult prisons skyrocketing
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/27/juveniles.in.jail/index.html
Did Kayla Have to Die?
http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/na/a17088-2000mar5.htm
