Stephen A. Kent is a sociology professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and an expert on religions and their views on crime and responses to violence.

Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation was founded in 1976 as an organization for family members who have a relative who was murdered and who oppose the death penalty. Jack Sullivan Jr. is the executive director.

California Church IMPACT is the legislative advocacy arm of the California Council of Churches, which supported a state bill that it says would make sentencing for youths fairer. Email through the website.

Shannon Wight is associate director of the Youth Justice Campaign of Oregon’s Partnership for Safety and Justice. The campaign is working to keep juveniles out of the justice system and to raise the age at which Oregon youths can be tried as adults in criminal matters.

Kimo Uila is director of juvenile justice services for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco. He has a background in faith-based juvenile justice advocacy in that city.

Javier Stauring is director of Faith Communities for Families and Children, which held a Juvenile Justice Week of Faith in Februrary 2010 with events across California.

Verne Rainey is the program manager for juvenile services for the King County Superior Court, which covers Seattle. Among services provided is a mentoring program pairing juvenile offenders with mentors from area churches.

Greg Kepferle is CEO of Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Calif. He has testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives about maintaining and increasing funding for juvenile justice programs.

Dennis Gibbs is director of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ Prism ministry, which focuses on “restorative justice” for the incarcerated, including juveniles.