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Religions
Special Issues
Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment
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Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 8433

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Gabriel Rubin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Justice Studies Department, Montclair State University, 348 Dickson Hall, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA
Interests: migration; international justice; political theory; rhetoric
Dr. Benjamin Meade

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Justice Studies, James Madison University, Darcus Johnson Hall 2005, 58 Bluestone Drive MSC 1205, Harrisonburg, VA 22807, USA
Interests: corrections; prisons; inmate behavior; religion/religiosity and crime/corrections

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are interested in your research contributions for a Special Edition of the journal Religions on the topic of “Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment”. The purpose of the Special Issue is to expand on the interdisciplinary research already being conducted in this field. The issue is focused on exploring religion as an independent and/or as a dependent variable with relation to crime and/or criminal justice. The scope of the issue will be broad to accommodate many perspectives. Religion, in the form of extremism, has been shown to be a catalyst for crime, religious differences sometimes lead to conflict and hate crimes, and religiosity has been a sanctuary for inmates and addicts looking to make a better life for themselves (Jang et al. “Religion and Misconduct in Angola Prison: Conversion, congregational participation, religiosity, and self-identities.” Justice Quarterly, 35:3).

There are many potential avenues for research, including how religion potentially mitigates criminality, how religious programming affects inmates, how reductions in religiosity in Western societies affect criminality (or do not), and how religion affects how crime is perceived through legislation and even in the judicial system. Religion/religiosity can be treated as a broad variable, or specific religions, such as Christianity, Hinduism, or Islam, can be explored. Review articles, quantitative studies, and conceptual pieces are all welcome.

We are particularly interested in work that either reinforces or challenges conclusions that religion suppresses crime, such as was found by Sumter et al. in “Religion and Crime Studies: Assessing What Has Been Learned,” Religions 9: 6 (2018). This issue will supplement a rich literature that already exists on the connections between crime and religion.

Dr. Gabriel Rubin
Dr. Benjamin Meade
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religion
  • religiosity
  • crime
  • criminal justice
  • corrections
  • recidivism
  • rehabilitation
  • crime prevention
  • reentry

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Predictors of Religiosity among US Prisoners
by Benjamin Meade
Religions 2023, 14(2), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020211 - 03 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1552
Abstract
Criminological research on religiosity among prisoners has focused on the effects of or outcomes associated with religiosity. Studies have discovered that faith-based programs can reduce recidivism and that religiosity facilitates adaptation to imprisonment and is associated with reductions in serious misconducts. Criminologists have [...] Read more.
Criminological research on religiosity among prisoners has focused on the effects of or outcomes associated with religiosity. Studies have discovered that faith-based programs can reduce recidivism and that religiosity facilitates adaptation to imprisonment and is associated with reductions in serious misconducts. Criminologists have yet to examine the predictors of religiosity among prisoners. In this study, I examine individual- and facility-level predictors of inmate religiosity to uncover the relationship between individual demographic and criminal justice characteristics and religiosity among prisoners. I use national data sets, the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities and the Census of State Correctional Facilities, and multilevel modeling techniques to examine these relationships. Findings at the individual level indicate that the same factors that are important influences on religiosity in the general population are also significant predictor of religiosity among prisoners, and that the criminal justice/criminal history characteristics of prisoners are also important influences on religiosity. At the facility level, prisons in the Southern region of the US had the highest rates of religiosity among prisoners. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment)
15 pages, 282 KiB  
Article
Cruelty against Leniency: The Case of Imperial Zoroastrian Criminal Law
by Janos Jany
Religions 2023, 14(2), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020210 - 03 Feb 2023
Viewed by 2401
Abstract
The article examines the impact of Zoroastrianism on criminal law and legal theory during the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (224–651 C.E) in late Antique Persia. This was the historic period when Zoroastrianism was also the ideology of the Iranian state, which granted [...] Read more.
The article examines the impact of Zoroastrianism on criminal law and legal theory during the reign of the Sasanian dynasty (224–651 C.E) in late Antique Persia. This was the historic period when Zoroastrianism was also the ideology of the Iranian state, which granted the Zoroastrian church extraordinary power and influence, a unique situation which is termed by the author as ‘imperial Zoroastrianism’. The first part of the paper examines how imperial Zoroastrianism evolved from previous understanding of religion and law. The second part of the paper scrutinises the Zoroastrian understanding of wrong in the light of eschatology and cosmology, and the ethical principles that follow from this very particular world view. Next, an individual section is devoted to the criminal theory of Zoroastrianism, which regards criminal punishment not as a punishment but as a means to save the soul of the offender from sufferings in Hell. With such an underlying principle in mind, the text looks for examples of cruelty and leniency in substantive criminal law and criminal procedure. This main body of the article examines contemporary legal sources and apocalyptic works. Finally, a comparison of Hindu and Islamic criminal legal theory follows the description of the Zoroastrian criminal law, highlighting astonishing similarities. Considering the results of both the analytic and the comparative methods, the author comes to the conclusion that it is not religion in itself that suppresses crimes, but rather their eschatology and cosmology: religions that are based on divine justice are less lenient toward crimes and offenders than religions in which alternative concepts like divine grace or non-violence are also operative. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment)
13 pages, 797 KiB  
Article
The Janus-Faced Clergy Crimes in the Judge Dee Mysteries: A Pentadic Criticism
by Pan Xie and Zhou Li
Religions 2023, 14(2), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020136 - 19 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1369
Abstract
Robert Van Gulik, one of the twentieth century’s most prominent sinologists and detective writers, has made significant contributions to the study of Chinese cultures but received inadequate scholarly appraisal until the twenty-first century. Although Van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries have been well received [...] Read more.
Robert Van Gulik, one of the twentieth century’s most prominent sinologists and detective writers, has made significant contributions to the study of Chinese cultures but received inadequate scholarly appraisal until the twenty-first century. Although Van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries have been well received informally among ordinary readers and scholars, little academic attention has been devoted to Judge Dee’s trials of evil clergy due to their covert representation in Van Gulik’s narration. This paper pays attention to crimes committed by religious leaders and members of orders to reveal an implicit religion-crime relationship in Van Gulik’s works on Judge Dee with the help of Kenneth Burke’s pentadic criticism. In our analysis, we find that Van Gulik differentiates between good and evil disciples, the acts of the disciples and the beliefs of religions, and non-mainstream and orthodox religion, presenting a heterogeneous religious crime landscape. As a result, in the misdeeds of clergy and offenses against the sacred religion, a Janus-faced (two-faced) clergy crime is identified in the mysteries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment)
15 pages, 322 KiB  
Article
Criminal Law Response to Shamanism—Is Combating Immaterial Culture a Means to Civilisation Progress on the Example of Penal Code Regulations of the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo?
by Michał Tadeusz Najman
Religions 2023, 14(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14010023 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1365
Abstract
The function of the law in shaping social values is exposed in the article. Thispaper considers whether certain practices penalised in the surveyed countries (carrying our rituals with the use of human remains) could be classified as intangible cultural heritage and, thus, whether [...] Read more.
The function of the law in shaping social values is exposed in the article. Thispaper considers whether certain practices penalised in the surveyed countries (carrying our rituals with the use of human remains) could be classified as intangible cultural heritage and, thus, whether these practices should be legally protected. The main conclusion of the analysis is the statement that criminal law as a response to shamanism is inconsistent with the basic principles of a democratic state oflaw, including the right to expression and self-determination. Assuming that described social phenomenon exists in a society, and at the same time, this practice does not threaten other members of this society and is commonly accepted, the legislator should avoid creating regulations that are inconsistent with the current axiological system in a given community. The elimination of certain practices should take place by creating civilisation awareness inside a community. Criminal law does not fulfil this function. On the contrary, it contributes to the deepening and consolidation of the existence of certain pathological phenomena, as well as to the disappearance of indigenous cultures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and Crime: Forgiveness and Punishment)
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