Social Institutions

The paper traces the role of religion in contemporary criminology as well as reviewing the development of scholarly interest in religion within the field ofcriminology. We begin with a sys,tematic review of270 published studies to better understand the state of the literature examining the relationship between religion and crime. Our systematic review provides support for the notion that religious involvement is a relevant protective and prosocial factor. We then discuss how various dimensions of religiousness may explain crime and delinquency (directly and indirectly) and contribute to criminological theories and research. Additionally, we offer several potentially fruitful avenues for research examining the efficacy of the 'faith factor" in both reducing crime and promoting prosocial behavior. We conclude with methodological and theoretical recommendations designed to assist scholars interested in research on the role of religion within criminology as well as prosocial studies more generally. Over the last five decades there has been growing interest in the nature of the relationship between religion and crime. In general, researchers have sought to determine if being more or less religious has anything to do with why people do or do not break the law. Scholars from diverse disciplines, including criminologists, interested in this line of inquiry have sought to test hypotheses, and cumulated research provides empirical insights to this important question. Criminologists should be interested in religion not only because it may be useful in explaining why people do or do not commit crime, but because religion may be helpful in understanding why people engage in prosocial activities something criminologists have generally tended to ignore. We argue it is important to understand how religiousness keeps individuals from engaging in criminal behavior, but also significant is isolating the effects, if any, of faith-motivated individuals, groups and organizations in fostering prosocial activities because prosocial behaviors decrease the probability of antisocial behaviors including crime. As one considers the possible linkages between religion and prosocial activities as well as crime, many important questions in need of serious research come to mind: How might spiritual interventions or