NCJ Number
201705
Date Published
2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This chapter deals with the reasons why it is important to focus on criminal justice issue in terms of religious rather than ethnic diversity.
Abstract
While criminological research has looked at the issue of diversity and difference in terms of race or ethnic identity, the issue of religious diversity has been largely overlooked. The lack of criminological work looking at religious diversity and how this might influence experiences of crime and criminal justice reflects the approaches taken by government bodies, agencies of the criminal justice system, and social service departments. Both social welfare and criminal justice policy anti-discriminatory approaches are largely based on anti-racist models, thereby significantly diminishing the importance of religious issues. In addition, victim services can be accused of failing to address the religious and spiritual needs of some victims, ignoring religious identity and implementing programs that accommodate racial rather than religious diversity. This chapter discusses the importance of bringing religious identity into the criminal justice system in Britain. Christianity, in particular the Church of England, occupies a privileged role in the criminal justice system, thereby having the effect of marginalizing other faiths. The 1994 National Survey of Ethnic Minorities revealed that 90 percent of British Muslims surveyed considered religion to be important to the way they lead their lives. Thus, it is important to examine how aspects of crime and criminal justice are addressed in terms of how they are experienced by Muslims. The chapter discusses the social exclusion and disenfranchisement of young Muslim men and the significance of this when looking at the criminal activity of a proportion of Muslim youth. A summary of the remaining chapters is also included at the end of the chapter. 3 notes and 50 references