Life-Course Perspective on Spirituality and Desistance From Crime

• NCJ Number: 222855
• Journal: Criminology Volume: 46 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 99-132
• Author(s): Peggy C. Giordano; Monica A. Longmore; Ryan D. Schroeder; Patrick M. Seffrin
• Date Published: February 2008
• Length: 34 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH29095; MH46410; R21 HD042831-01
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD); William T. Grant Foundation; Metanexus Institute
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study drew on quantitative and qualitative data derived from a long-term followup of a sample of serious adolescent male and female offenders (n=152), in order to explore the role of spirituality and religious participation as influences on their adult patterns of criminal behavior.

Abstract

The study found that once traditional predictors of desistance from crime had been taken into account, spirituality, as measured by feeling close to God and participation in religious activities, was not a significant main effect on life-course crime patterns for the sample as a whole. For some individuals and under some conditions, life-history data did document positive effects from religion and spirituality. Others relied heavily on religion, but they did not manage to turn away from drugs and crime, and others did so only for a specific time period. Some found difficulty in reconciling religious beliefs with the adverse experiences they linked to the negative course of their lives, and others used religion as an explanation for their criminal behavior ("The devil made me do it") or as a reason for their inability to change ("This is God's burden for me to bear"). Study data were obtained from the Ohio Lifecourse Study (OLS), which is a three-wave panel study of adolescents initially surveyed in 1982 when they resided in State juvenile correctional institutions. These respondents were subsequently interviewed in 1995 and again in 2003. The original sample included the entire 1982 population of the only Ohio institution for females (n=127) and males randomly selected from 3 State institutions for delinquent boys (n=127). Dependent variables pertained to adult crime patterns and independent variables were religiosity, social network characteristics, and adult social bonds. Control variables were juvenile delinquency and sociodemographic characteristics. 2 tables and 58 references