How Criminals Use Religion to Justify Their Crimes

The Background: The researchers found that despite the deterrent effects of religion that have been highlighted in prior research, their results indicate that religion may have a counterintuitive effect in certain contexts of encouraging or supporting criminal behavior. As they note in the papers' abstract, "Through purposeful distortion or genuine ignorance, the hardcore offenders we interviewed are able to exploit the absolvitory tenets of religious doctrine, neutralizing their fear of death to not only allow but encourage offending."

The Story: Research has found that many hardcore criminals anticipate an early death, making them less prone to delay gratification, more likely to discount the future costs of crime, and thus more likely to offend. Ironically, many such offenders also hold strong religious convictions, including those related to the punitive afterlife consequences of offending. To reconcile these findings, researchers from Georgia State University interviewed 48 active street offenders to determine their expectation of an early demise, belief in the afterlife, and notions of redemption and punishment.

The researchers found some of the causes to be an incomplete understanding of the precepts, rules, and expectations of their faith. For instance, Que, an 18-year-old male robber, said:

Que: I believe in God and the Bible and stuff. I believe in Christmas, and uh, you know the commitments and what not.
Int: You mean the Commandments?
Que: Yeah that. I believe in that.
Int: Can you name any of them?
Que: Ahhh ... well, I don't know ... like don't steal, and uh, don't cheat and [expletive deleted] like that. Uhmm ... I can't remember the rest.
Int: How about the Bible?
Que: Yeah I know some of that. You know. Heaven and Hell, and Jesus fighting with the Devil, but for real, I didn't really go to church enough to know like all the details, just the important [expletive deleted], like Jesus forgives you for all your bad [expletive deleted] if you donate some money to the church, or pray and say you're sorry.   Continue at Joe Carter