NCJ Number
155103
Journal
Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: (1995) Pages: 195-221
Date Published
1995
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This articles examines the relationship between religiosity and various forms of deviance, delinquency, and crime.
Abstract
Since Hirschi and Stark's (1969) surprising failure to find religious effects on delinquency, subsequent research has generally revealed an inverse relationship between religiosity and various forms of deviance, delinquency, and crime. The complexity of the relationship and conditions under which it holds, however, continue to be debated. Although a few researchers have found that religion's influence is noncontingent, most have found support, especially among youths, for effects that vary by denomination, type of offense, and social and/or religious context. More recently the relationship has been reported as spurious when relevant secular controls are included. The authors' research attempts to resolve these issues by testing the religion-crime relationship in models with a comprehensive crime measure and three separate dimensions of religiosity. They also control for secular constraints, religious networks, and social ecology. They found that, among their religiosity measures, participation in religious activities was a persistent and noncontingent inhibiter of adult crime. Footnotes, tables, references, appendixes