A recent article by Canadian news
agency, Postmedia News, looks at a study on
interpretations of religion used to justify criminal activity. The study, conducted by three Georgia State
University professors, is titled “With God on my side: the paradoxical
relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street
offenders.” Using interviews with 48 persons who professed a belief in God and
were actively engaged in street crime, the authors investigated perceptions of
early death, belief in the afterlife, and notions of redemption and punishment.
The researcher’s claim that the study’s findings offer a counter-narrative to
the notion of religion alone as a deterrent to crime, without active moral
direction and additional support services to help offenders get on the right
track. As a result, this research has implications has implications for the
administration of faith-based services inside the corrections system and
out. Click here
to read the article, and here to check out
the study.
