My wife and I have recently started watching the second series of parole on the BBC. We watched the first series and found it really interesting and just saw the second series was out. It is partcularly interesting to hear the logic and reasoning of parole boards as they consider whether to re-categorise or even release prisoners whose cases come before them.

One of the fascinating comments made in the programme (the first episode) was the belief that people can change. We live, they said, in a society that believes in rehabilitation and that people – even those who have committed particularly heinous crimes – are capable of changing. This lies at the heart of any system of parole.

What is particularly interesting is how the programme sets out the two issues of justice, on the one hand, and rehabilitation on the other. There is a belief in the necessity of justice being done whilst also recognising that people are capable of changing. Naturally, as the cases are being considered, the story arc moves between an emphasis on justice for the crimes committed and the potential risk to the public of further such criminality if this person is released. It is justice, grace and the ability to change all rolled into one very interesting programme that gives a small insight into how prison release is handled.

It isn’t hard to draw parallels between the work of the parole board and much of what we do as a church. Obviously, for those of us working in communities like ours and doing some of the work we do, there are some very specific and direct parallels to people who have been in exactly these situations and know this system only too well. It is helpful to me to see how it works from a parole-hearing perspective, knowing as I do those who have been on the receiving end of such things.

But I was particularly struck by the parallel between how the parole board operate and how our own church membership interviews tend to go. It was striking how the parole board were looking very specifically for some recognition of past crimes, their severity, the impact they had on others and the taking of personal responsibility for them. It is very much how we might expect to hear some recognition of sin, its impact and a very definite taking of personal responsibility for it.

Once past crimes have been discussed, the parole board then begin looking for evidence of genuine change. Has this person, despite their crimes, done things to address the issues that led to them committing the crime in the first place? Is there evidence of genuine change in them? Again, this is just like we would look for real evidence of turning away from sin, true repentance that puts meaningful barriers between us and sin and more active desire to follow Christ.

Finally, the parole board seem to look for some fruit of that change. not just words or claims that the person no longer wants to put themselves in difficult situations that might lead to criminality, but proper evidence that they have done so (albeit within prison). Again, when we consider true repentance and conversion to Christ, we also want to see some meaningful fruit. Not just ownership of past sin and expressions of remorse and desires to change, but some meaningful evidence that – now this person belongs to Christ – they have made active choices and can point to genuine evidence of real and lasting change in their lives.

The reactions of different people to the crimes committed are also quite striking. They mirror the two broad reactions we see in the world to conversion. On the one hand, there is the horror of some towards grace and mercy, with the firm belief that justice must be done. In essence, it is the hypocritical belief that there should be unmitigated justice for some but grace abounding for others. On the other hand, there are those who tend towards the presumption of grace for all at the expense of justice and in the face of any credible evidence of true repentance. It is a view that rightly comes unstuck in the face of some of the heinous crimes on display.

In the end, it is only really the Christian gospel that brings justice and mercy, punishment and grace properly to bear. All of us are reckoned to be sinners who stand guilty before a holy God, but all of us may receive grace in and through the person of Jesus if we repent of our sin and seek salvation in his name alone. Justice will be truly and properly meted out by God. Sin is either paid for in Christ on the cross on our behalf or in us as we refuse to repent of our sin. God’s grace and God’s justice find their full expression in and through the Lord Jesus.