The southwest of England has seen an increased spate of thefts of church bells and equipment, irrigation pipes from schools and other scrap metal from business and domestic property in recent weeks.

Black community and church leaders are backing a symposium next week at the House of Commons on the over-representation of African Caribbean people on the national criminal DNA database.

A Christian church in central Jerusalem which is used by several different groups survived an arson attack last week as a result of prompt action by Jewish neighbours who called the emergency services and stopped the potentially lethal fire spreading.

An opinion survey due to be launched next week indicates that a vast majority of churchgoers think the church should play a grassroots role in tackling gun and knife crime, following recent initiatives from Black churches.

Christians across all London's 33 boroughs, including many from the Black Majority Churches, are coming together for a Week of Peace which will look at practical community-based methods for reducing violence throughout the capital.

Church of England bishops in the House of Lords have joined other penal reformers in highlighting the conditions of Britain’s child prisons in a debate following the coroner’s report into the death of a 15-year-old boy.

The leader of a large Reformed denomination in South Africa says a crime wave gripping the country is a moral issue that cannot be solved only by having more police officers and state-of-the-art forensic equipment - writes David Wanless from Cape Town for Ecumenical News International (ENI).

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticized society's over-reliance on prisons ‚Ä' and is calling for a commission of enquiry into the penal justice system in the UK, which he says is failing both offenders and victims because it is not restorative.

Church leaders in Kenya have called for action following a report showing that sex tourism and sexual exploitation of children have reached an alarming proportion on the coast of the East African country where thousands of foreigners and local tourists celebrate Christmas and the New Year - writes Fredrick Nzwili for Ecumenical News International.