{"id":1384,"date":"2013-06-12T08:34:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T08:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/new-study-suggests-religion-may-help-criminals-justify-their-crimes.html"},"modified":"2013-06-12T08:34:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T08:34:00","slug":"new-study-suggests-religion-may-help-criminals-justify-their-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/new-study-suggests-religion-may-help-criminals-justify-their-crimes.html","title":{"rendered":"New Study Suggests Religion May Help Criminals Justify Their Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\n
In 1996, noted criminologist Jewel\u00a0asked a question<\/a>\u00a0that has long haunted those hoodlums prone to pondering the existential consequences of their actions: \u201cWho will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy?\u201d For generations of American crooks, the answer has been \u201creligious do-gooders.\u201d As a 2006 Federal Bureau of Prisons report\u00a0put it<\/a>, \u201cfaith groups have become involved in offering formal programs within prison to bring about not only the spiritual salvation of the inmates but their rehabilitation in the profane world as well.\u201d The idea is that spiritual rebirth may help tame the criminal impulse, and set wild hearts on the straight and narrow.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Maybe not. A new study in the academic journal\u00a0Theoretical Criminology<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(hat tip to the\u00a0Vancouver Sun<\/em><\/a>) suggests that, far from causing offenders to repent of their sins, religious instruction might actually\u00a0encourage<\/em>\u00a0crime. The authors surveyed 48 \u201chardcore street offenders\u201d in and around Atlanta, in hopes of determining what effect, if any, religion has on their behavior. While the vast majority of those surveyed (45 out of 48 people) claimed to be religious, the authors found that the interviewees \u201cseemed to go out of their way to reconcile their belief in God with their serious predatory offending. They frequently employed elaborate and creative rationalizations in the process and actively exploit religious doctrine to justify their crimes.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1996, noted criminologist Jewel\u00a0asked a question\u00a0that has long haunted those hoodlums prone to pondering the existential consequences of their actions: \u201cWho will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy?\u201d For generations of American crooks, the answer has been \u201creligious do-gooders.\u201d As a 2006 Federal Bureau of Prisons report\u00a0put it, \u201cfaith groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Study Suggests Religion May Help Criminals Justify Their Crimes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 1996, noted criminologist Jewel asked a question that has long haunted those hoodlums prone to pondering the existential consequences of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/new-study-suggests-religion-may-help-criminals-justify-their-crimes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Study Suggests Religion May Help Criminals Justify Their Crimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1996, noted criminologist Jewel asked a question that has long haunted those hoodlums prone to pondering the existential consequences of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/new-study-suggests-religion-may-help-criminals-justify-their-crimes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-12T08:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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