Spirituality Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Spirituality, including details on effects in health care, religion, psychology.

Exploring the type-of-crime hypothesis, religiosity, and spirituality in an adult male prison population.

Fernander A, Wilson JF, Staton M, Leukefeld C

College of Medicine, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, 40536-0086, USA.

This study examined the association between measures of spirituality and religiosity and characteristics of current criminal conviction in a male prison population. Spirituality was operationalized as spiritual well-being and existential well-being. Religiosity was operationalized as frequency of religious service attendance, whether an individual considered himself to be religious, and how strongly an individual believed his religious beliefs influenced his behavior. Inmates whose convictions were property related reported greater spiritual wellbeing, were more likely to consider themselves religious, and to say that religious beliefs influenced their behavior than inmates whose crimes were not property related. Inmates whose convictions were drug related were less likely to consider themselves religious, and inmates whose conviction involved violence were more likely to consider themselves religious but less likely to endorse statements that religious beliefs influenced their behavior. The distinction between religiosity and spirituality is discussed in terms of the type-of-crime hypothesis.

Published 26 October 2005 in Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol, 49(6): 682-95.
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