NCJ Number
75443
Date Published
1980
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study investigates the effects of moral climates on crime rates, using standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) as its unit of analysis in an attempt to show that variations in the religiousness of SMSA's account for a substantial amount of the variation in their crime rate.
Abstract
The study used Durkheim's definition of religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices which unite adherents into a moral community. The analysis was based on data from 193 SMSA's. The study found that church membership has considerably more impact on property crimes than on violent crimes. Moreover, within these categories, there is considerable variation in the correlations when more specific offense categories are examined such as the burglary and larceny rates. Among violent crimes, the correlations are significant, but somewhat low, for the homicide rate, the robbery rate, and the assault rate. But the negative correlation between church membership and the rape rate is quite high. It is suggested that homicide and assault typically do not reflect a sustained pattern of deviance and thus may be less easily governed by bonds to the moral order. Because rape tends to a repeated offense and most typically occurs between strangers, this may account for the high negative correlation between church membership and the rape rate. Low church membership is also correlated with religious deviance, such as espousal of cults preached by cynical or demented prophets like Jim Jones. Explanatory endnotes and 14 references are appended.