Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders

Thomas P O'Connor

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781136409318
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Law Theory & Practice
• Index: Law

Explore the relationship between faith-based programs, religion, and offender rehabilitation!

This book reports on current research from several disciplines to help the reader understand the nature and impact of the relationship between faith-based programs, religion, and offender rehabilitation. Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders is a unique resourcethere has been very little research published on this important topic.

President Bush's faith-based initiative recognized that religion plays a role in the justice system and corrections that is overlooked but essentialit increases the role of community and caring in the system in a unique and important way. This pathbreaking book points the way toward a system of faith-based programs that are not only effective but also economical, as these programs are often staffed by volunteers.

Religion, the Community, and the Rehabilitation of Criminal Offenders addresses important questions regarding the importance and effectiveness of faith-based rehabilitation programs, including:

• What is the relationship between prison religion and offender rehabilitation?
• What motivates inmates to become involved with religious programs and activities?
• What is the prison chaplain's role in rehabilitation?
• Are certain religious denominations more effective than others in preventing crime, delinquency, and recidivism?
• How does religious activity help inmates adjust to the prison environment?
• What do inmates have to say about the religious programs they encounter within the system?
• How did Islam develop within American correctional institutions and what changes has the movement gone through in recent years?
• Why do female African-American inmates tend to resist conversion to Islam while their male counterparts embrace the Muslim faith in increasing numbers?
• How can sacred texts and social theory be utilized as teaching tools and intervention strategies in the transformation processes of men incarcerated for violent crimes? (A fascinating study from the Sing-Sing prison)
• and more!

Index

Adlerian counseling, 70table, 74, 85

African American inmates incarceration rates, 99–100 Muslim affiliation, 44–45 supportive social system of, 45 See also African American women inmates, Islam conversion resistance of; Islam in American corrections

African American women inmates, Islam conversion resistance of chaplain interviews, 121–123

discussion regarding, 123–125

female inmate social system male vs. female differences, 119 prison family formation, 119–120, 123

racial injustice focus, 120, 121, 123, 125n.2

gender differences, 5–6

impact of, 103

Islamic family unit disparities, 117–118

lack of familiarity with Islam, 111–113, 124

attire of Islamic women, 115–117

Black women’s historic reality, 114

Christianity and, 112, 115, 124 media misrepresentation, 113–114

negative implications, 111–112

role and treatment of women, 113–115, 124

prior religious affiliation, 118, 124

social support, church involvement, 117–119

statistics regarding, 109–110

violence, lack of, 124

Behavioral therapy, 70table, 85

Benda, Brent, 182

Biblical citations

Amos 2:6, 270

Amos 5:18, 270

Amos 5:21, 270

Amos 5:23–24, 270

Amos 9:11–15, 270

Ezekiel 34:16, 271

1 Samuel: 28, 236–237

Genesis 9:8–17, 269

Genesis 11:30, 269

Genesis 12:1–3,269

Genesis 18, 273

Hosea 2:19, 271

Hosea 10:12, 273

Hosea 11:9, 269

Hosea 12:6, 273

Isaiah 1:27, 271

Isaiah 40–55, 269

Isaiah: 53.6, 251

Jeremiah 9:24, 271, 273

Jeremiah 22:13–16, 273

Leviticus: 16, 250–251

Matthew 18, 265

Psalm 25:9, 271

Revelations 19:11–21, 272

Romans 3, 271

Romans 3:21, 269

Romans 5, 269

Romans 5:5, 18–19

Romans 11:32, 254

Boot camp. See Religiosity and drug use relationship

Bush, George W., 3, 8

Capital punishment, 3

See als...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• The Journal of Offender
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Indexing, Abstracting & Website/Internet Coverage
• Contents
• About the Editors
• Introduction: Religion-Offenders-Rehabilitation: Questioning the Relationship
• Prison Religion in Action and Its Influence on Offender Rehabilitation
• The Reasons for Religious Involvement in the Correctional Environment
• The Role of the Prison Chaplain in Rehabilitation
• Intersections of Race, Religion, and Inmate Culture: The Historical Development of Islam in American Corrections
• Resistance to Conversion to Islam Among African American Women Inmates
• Prisoners, Prison, and Religion: Religion and Adjustment to Prison
• Religiosity and Drug Use Among Inmates in Boot Camp: Testing a Theoretical Model with Reciprocal Relationships
• Denominational Differences in Self-Reported Delinquency
• Evaluating Religious Initiatives in a Correctional Setting: Do Inmates Speak?
• Shame and Religion as Factors in the Rehabilitation of Serious Offenders
• Social Theory, Sacred Text, and Sing-Sing Prison: A Sociology of Community-Based Reconciliation
• The Prisoner as Scapegoat: Some Skeptical Remarks on Present Penal Policy
• Rethinking God, Justice, and Treatment of Offenders
• Index