Religion And Crime Theory Research And Practice

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Religion and Crime: Theory, Research, and Practice" that was published in Religions

This book provides a critical discussion of the way in which religion influences: criminal and antisocial behaviour, punishment and the law, intergroup conflict and peace-making, and the rehabilitation of offenders. The authors argue that in order to understand how religion is related to each of these domains it is essential to recognise the evolutionary origins of religion as well as how genetic and cultural evolutionary processes have shaped its essential characteristics. Durrant and Poppelwell posit that the capacity of religion to bind individuals into socially cohesive ‘moral communities’ can help us to understand its complex relationship with cooperation, crime, punishment, inter-group conflict and forgiveness. An original and innovative study, this book will be of special interest to criminologists and other social scientists interested in the role of religion in crime, punishment, intergroup conflict and law.

Crime, Criminal Justice and Religion: A Critical Appraisal seeks to bridge a gap in the examination of crime and criminal justice by taking both a historical and a contemporary lens to explore the influence of religion. Offering unique perspectives that consider the impact on modern-day policy and practice, the book scrutinises a range of issues such as abortion, hate crime and desistance as well as reflecting upon the influence religion can have on criminal justice professions. The book acts to renew the importance of, and recognise, the influence and impact religion has in terms of how we view and ultimately address crime and deliver criminal justice. One of the first books to cover the area of crime, criminal justice and religion, the book is split into three parts, with part 1 - 'Contextualising Crime, Criminal Justice and Religion' - providing an introduction to crime, criminal justice and religion, and reflections on the role religion has had, and continues to have, in how crime is understood and how we respond to it. Part 2 - 'Appraisal of Institutions and Professional Practice' - considers the issue of religion through institutions and professions of criminal justice, such as the police and legal profession, while part 3 - 'Appraisal of Contemporary Issues' - explores a range of crime and criminal justice issues in on which religion has had an impact, such as the death penalty and terrorism. Crime, Criminal Justice and Religion will be of primary interest to academics, researchers and students in criminology, law, sociology, psychology, social policy and related Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences disciplines. It will also be of interest to theologians, both as scholars and practitioners. The book is a body of work that will appeal at an international level and will also be a key resource for a range of practitioners across the globe working on issues concerning crime and criminal justice.

The book deals with three interconnected themes. The first is the dascription of main features of juvenile criminal justice in such diverse countries as Thailand, China, Germany, France, and England. The second is the argument that ecucation is the essential principle of any juvenile delinquency justice systemn, and that the most important part of education must be moral instruction of young offenders. The third theme of the book is that warld religiong are indispensable for carrying out successful educational programs directed towards the formation of good conscince among young people. Three religious traditions are explored: Buddhism, Confu - cianism, and Christianlty. The presentation of the educational poten - tial of the world religions draws upon the axperience of the author as a volunteer teacher in a Thai juvenile correction institution.

This unique collection brings together international contributors from a range of disciplines to explore crime and responses to crime through a religious/faith-based lens. At a time when religion is under the media spotlight in terms of religiously-motivated hate crime, terrorism and child abuse this book provides an important platform for academic debate. It examines these and other key issues including: faith as a coping strategy, religion as a motivating factor and the role of religion and morality in shaping criminal justice responses. This collection clearly places religion/faith at the heart of criminological enquiry and illustrates its relevance in addressing wider social issues and would be of benefit to students and academics researching or studying in these areas. It will also be of interest to community and criminal justice practitioners and those with an interest in community engagement and multi-faith work.

This book offers a collection of original contributions to the literature on sexual crime, religion and spirituality. Does religion help people desist from sexual crime? Can it form the basis of interventions to rehabilitate people? Or does it provide justification and opportunity for committing it? What do the perpetrators say about their faith? What about the victims and survivors of sexual crime? The book asks and answers these questions and more in a unique collection of chapters – from academics, chaplains and prisoners. The book begins with an exploration of the role, history and development of chaplaincy in the prison system over the years, before providing a more personal look through the eyes of the Lead Chaplain at Rampton High Secure hospital in the UK. Subsequent chapters weave together theories of desistance from sexual crime, and analyses of perpetrators’ accounts of their offending are also offered, alongside firsthand accounts of prisoners from a range of religions. The book concludes with a thoughtful journey through the book by the Lead Chaplain at HMP Stafford, UK. It will provide fresh insights for students and scholars of psychology, criminology, theology and social work, as well as for practitioners, chaplains, and readers with an interest in learning about sexual crime, religion and spirituality.

When Texas Prison Scams Religion exposes corruption in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, especially in the abuse of religion. In many ways, this book is a literature review of 1,800-plus works that defends freedom of conscience in prison while exposing the unconstitutionality of the seminary program that “buys faith with favor” from prisoners. The state veritably ordains the prisoner a “Field Minister” that represents the offices of the Governor, TDCJ Director, and wardens throughout the prison. Therein, TDCJ lies about neutrality in a program all about Christian missions and lies again in falsely certifying elementary Bible students as counselors. Why is the director sponsoring psychopaths counseling psychopaths? In fact, TDCJ pays $314 million a year to UTMB for psychiatric care and receives not a single report of the care given, and worse, for UTMB generates no reports itself. The underbelly TDCJ’s executive culture of cover up is exposed. TDCJ has hired the lowest qualified of the applicant pool many times in the last 25 years and regularly destroys statistics on violence. TDCJ Dir. Collier led the prison to model Louisiana Warden Burl Cain, the most scandal-ridden in penal history according to a host of published news stories for 20 years. Therein, Collier led TDCJ to favor the smallest segment of religious society within Evangelical Dominionism. Texas has no business endorsing the truth of any religion over another. We close with a proposal that utilizes the 400,000,000 hours of officer contact over ten years as a definitive influence in contrast to a commissioner that spends less than 10 minutes on each decision. Maness has been lobbying Austin for 15 years to definitively access staff for his “100,000 Mothers’ 1% Certainty Parole Texas Constitutional Amendment,” which would revolutionize prison culture and save Texans millions of the dollars.