Episode: What might Scripture have to contribute to contemporary discussions about criminal justice (esp. as practiced in the United States)? In this episode, Matt Lynch speaks with trial lawyer and author Matthew T. Martens about ways that the Bible can shape our thinking about criminal justice today. Topics range from biblical-theological principles to plea bargaining, jury selection, judges, witnesses, sentencing, the death penalty, and more, all related to his recent book Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal (Crossway, 2023).

Guest: Matthew Martens is a trial lawyer and partner at an international law firm in D.C., and has spent most of his 25+-year legal career practicing criminal law as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the U.S. Supreme court and was a political appointee in the criminal division of the US Justice Department. At his law practice website for Wilmer Hale, it says that “He is one of the few lawyers who has appeared—and won—at trial at “all four tables”: civil plaintiff, civil defendant, criminal prosecution and criminal defendant.” He’s the author of the book we’re discussing today, entitled, Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal (Crossway, 2023).

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