A STUDY OF RELIGIOSITY AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

APPROVED:

Major professor

_ 2 r j 2 ^ u/". Minor Professor ' J

<—C dj cf~C< Direct^/of the Department of Sociology

Dean of the Graduate School

A STUDY OF RELIGIOSITY AND CRIMINAL BBEHAVIOR

c:

TRESIS

Presented to the Graduate Council of the4

North Te>*as fttate University in Part ia l

Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Dep.ree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

By

James H. Harr ison, B. B. A

Denton, Texas

~B August, 1968 F E ?

J

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

1,1ST OF TABLES iii

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the Problem Hypotheses Deii mtion of T erm s Limitat ions of the Study Theoret ical Background and Related Studies

II. METHOD 23

Description of Subjects Collection of Da-.a Description of Measuring ins t rument Procedures for Analysing Data

IK. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF RESULTS. 30

IV. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS. . 37

Church Membership and Attendance The Criminal Act and the Cr iminal

V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 41

Summary Conclusions Recommendations

APPENDIX . , 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . , ' 48

ti

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

I. t_Ratios Between Pairs oi' Mean Religiosity Scores for Three Religious Affiliation Categories 32

II. t Ratios Between Pairs of Mean Religiosity Scores for Church Affiliation and Church Attendance , 33

III. Analysis of Variance of Mean Religiosity Scores Among Nine Crime Categories 34

IV. t Ratios Between Paivb of Mean Religiosity Scores for Eight Crime Categories 34

in

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Letters to the editors of newspapers and magazines, as well as many

sermons, dwell extensively on the need for sound religious education as

a crime preventive. Often outstanding civic or educational leaders in-

sist that delinquency and crime rates could be lowered at once if only

church attendance were greater and if those who have become lax in their

religious fervor would return to an active church role with greater seal.

Thus it may be assumed that in American 3 Ue Sunday school attendance,

regular church attendance, and religious participation are almost always

taken for granted ay being antidotes to delinquency and crime by offering

assistance in upgrading the character of youth.

If the" moral fibers of a society are supposedly supplied by religion

which cotrrpi ises beliefs, values, and practices focused on questions of

ultimate meaning— those matters pertaining to the nature, meaning, and

often purpose of reality--then the question arises as to what degree of

religious belief is expressed by those persons who commit criminal acts?

Studies have been made concerning the relationship between religion

and such factors as social class, poverty, political attitudes, divorce,

premarital relations and others; but research is lacking with respect to

the criminal and trie degree of his religiosity. Studies (11, 19, 21, 22, 38)

have been made concerning religion and the criminal by using either

church membership, religious preference., attendance, or some combina-

tion of these factors as indexes to religious commitments. Scholi and

Beker (31) made a comparison between delinquent and non-delinquent

Protestant adolescent boys concerning religious beliefs. However, these

studies failed to substantiate the popular belief that religion is a primary

deterrent to crime or delinquency,

Statement of the Problem

The problem of this study if. the attempt to measure the religiosity

of prison inmates and to dete/nrine if religiosity among prisoners may be

I -more generally associated (with certain types of crimes than with others

I

such as homicide, assault, theft by violence, sex offenses, crimes against

person and property, theft, embezzlement, and -"''other7' offenses.

Hypotheses

The hypotheses which were investigated grew out of the problem

stated above and were suggested by the contents discussed in the "Theo-

retical Background and Related Studies" 'section of this chapter.

Hypotheses tested were the following:

1, That not only do a high proportion of the prisoners in Texas

Correctional Institutions report church affiliation and frequent church-

attendance before being incarcerated but they also profess a strong-

belief in the Christian religion;

2. That there will be a significant difference in the-degree of re l ig-

iosity or intensity of religious belief proclaimed by criminals according

to the types of cr imes committed. Specifically, persons who commit

homicide will indicate a higher degree of religiosity than those who

commit offenses against both the person and property.

Definition of Categories

For the purpose of this study, tb.3 following definitions of categories

(37) were used:

Homicide: Murder, Manslaughter (negligent and non-negligeni).

Assault: Aggravated and Simple Assault. Batteries, Attempted

Murder, Attempted Manslaughter, Threats,

Theft by Violence; Armed and Unarmed Robbery, Muggings, Bank

Bobbery, Banditry, Hijacking, and a t t e n d s at any of the above.

Sex Pile as es: Forcible Rape, Statutory Rape, Indecent Assault,

Carnal Abuse, Sodomy, - Adultery, Cohabitation, Incest, Indecent Liber-

ties, Indecent. Exposure, Lewdness finale), peeping Tom, Seduction,

Soliciting (male). Commercialised Vice, Pandering, Obscenity, Pornog-

raphy.

Crimes Against Person and Property: crimes of this nature in-

clude those listed under Assault and Theft by Violence in combination

with crimes of Embezzlement, Fraud, Forgery, and Theft.

Embezzlement, Fraud and. Forgery: Embezzlement, Conversion,

Confidence Game, Disposing of Mortgaged Property, Obtaining Money or

Property by False Pretenses, Fraudulent or Fictitious Checks or Checks

drawn on Insufficient Funds, Counterfeiting, Forgery, Uttering.

Theft: Breaking and Entering, Safe-Cracking, Forcible Trespass,

Simple Larceny, Grand Larceny, Shop-lifting, Cattle Rustling, Auto

Breaking or Tampering, Pocket-Picking. Purse Snatching, Receiving,

Concealing, and/or Possession of Sto'-n Goods, Larceny of Auto, Auto

Theft for Joy-riding, and Unauthorized Use of Auto,

'•'Other-'' Offenses: Sale or Possession of Narcotics, Dope, or Other

Drugs, including Marihuana, Weapons Laws, Escape, Abortion, x\rson,

Bigamy, Bribery, Conspiracy, Blackmail, Extortion, Gambling, Kid-

napping or Abduction, Liquor Lav/ Violations, Malicious Mischief,

Non-support, Neglect, or Desertion of Wife and/or Children, Perjury,

Violation of Automobile Laws, Contributing to Delinquency, Possession

of Burglar Tools.

Unclassified: these are multiple-offenses committed by an inmate

in which both the seriousness of the crimes and the times committed

were weighted, so nearly equal tiiat categorization was undeterminable.

• • Limitations of the Study

• This study comprised 400 male prisoners in the Texas Correc-

tional Institutions. The prisoners, 16 years of age or older, had been

incarcerated for a period of less than two years.

The test for religiosity was limited to one questionnaire consisting

of 52 questions. Some of the questions were designed by the investigator

on the basis of religious doctrines arid several were selected from

various religious questionnaires (2, 10, 12, 13, 16, 30, 35, 38)

Theoretical Background and Related Studies

Religion and Social Control

Religions, of one form or other, occur so regularly in all known

societies that it is considered to be one of the most important insti-

tutions for influencing human behavior". Organized religion, as exem-

plified by the church, is generally considered, one. of the chief agencies

of social control in our society. An institution which exalts such

virtues as truth, morality, and justice and which is also capable of

invoking supernatural sanctions to induce compliance with its edicts is

mojt likely to have a profound effect upon behavior. Thus it would seem

that religion might well be a decisive factor in promoting conformity to

the accepted mores of our culture. In fact, many people hold the belief

that without religion there could not be a civilized society. As this paper

is concerned only with the Christian religion, Clock and Stark's

definition in the statement that '-'Religion is what societies hold to be

sacred, an institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs., values, and

practices focused on questions of ultimate meaning" (13> p, 4) will be

used.

Ostow feels that religion intervenes ID the pursuit of self-interest

or desires of passion by the promise of rewards for good behavior and

the threat of dire consequences in return for bad behavior. He also states

that the feelings of shame and guilt, induced by cor:! ess ion, sermons,

prayer, and self™degradation, aid religion in bringing the individual to

become more compliant to religious authority and lience to religion's

effort to control human behavior for social stability (28, pp. 572-573).

Thibaut and Kelly maintain that the three different kinds of activi-

ties wiiich a person must fulfill if he wants another person to perform a

specific behavior are, '''Scaling a rule, maintaining surveillance, and

applying sanctions" (34, pp. 428-419). Therefore, parents must fulfill

these three activities in order to get their child to perform according to

their expectations, even without their immediate personal surveillance.

An external agent may be used to perform some of the functions such as

monitoring and applying sanctions.. Thus parents may call upon God to

perform some of the necessary activities in child-control. The child is

then threatened that God will punish Mm if he misbehaves (26, pp 418-

419), According to Nunn, "'The coalition with God does not appear to be

an effort at developing internalized values in the children, but rather an

effort to get compliance to the norm" (2G, p. 431),

Davis holds the view that religion is supposed to do four things in

helping to maintain dominance of sentiment over organic desire—group

ends over private interest.

First, it offers, through its system of supernatural belief, an explanation cf the group ends and a justification of their pii-macy. Second it provides, through its collective ritual, a means for the constant renewal of th? common sentiments. Third, it furnishes, through its sacred objects, a concrete reference for the values and a rallying point for a*! persons who share the same values. Fourth it provides zn unlimited and insuperable source of rewards and pdntsh<<ic.ais (8, p. 529).

The human mind being in lare;e pur i; a social product, the individual

acquires a. system of goals through communication with other minds

which channelize the energies of the organism. Thus religion is believed

by some people to help integrate both society and personality (8, p. 351).

Hence, soma people see in a "crime wave* merely the reflection of a

degradation - of personal standards, Through the temptation to explain

crime in terms of a character debacle may be a common one, the expla-

nation. is too facile.

Public behavior is by no means always a reflection of the standards

of peisonal morals. Johnson says.

Men who keep their pledged word and pay their debts may participate without compunction in oppressive political practices. Persons who readily give to charity are sometimes insensitive to the antisocial consequences of business policies that are main-tained by their own proxies in stockholders' meetings. Rackets are carried on by men who seem to be exemplary in their private lives (18; p. 125).

Johnson (18) presents the viewpoint that churches,, having been

preoccupied with individual behavior patterns, have only been enforcing

standards of common decency; beyond this, churches, on the whole, have

played a relatively small part in the continual building of social-moral

standards. This is indicated by the churches' influence on ethical stand-

ards often having to be exercised in a negative fashion, the pronouncing

of judgment, rather than one of social adjustment through the use of new

ideas,

McCabe, before the Episcopal Social Work Conference in June 1935,,

"gave evidence from various sources showing thai religion apparently

plays small part in the lives of delinquents, and that church people show

little disposition to cooperate with other agencies in attacking the prob-

lem'' (20, pp. 498-499), Carr says that "verbal exhortation may have

some place in the training of youngpeople, but it is a far less important

place than many moral teachers have realized-' {6, p, 500). He advocates

the creation of favorable external conditions making acceptable behavior

easy and almost inevitable rather than disregarding such conditions and

trying to control behavior by blame and punishment (8/ p. 500).

The chance of church contacts seems to-be lowest in the deterio-

rated, high-risk areas' of largo cities as evidenced by studies in St.

Louis and Pittsburgh which show that Protestant churches tend to follow

the migration of middle-class homes (8, p. 501), Thus the proportion of

individuals per church in the city's core becomes progressively greater

than in the suburbs.

Delinquency and crime as forms of deviant behavior are considered

by Hager to be a part of the social process, Ee re fe r s to them as

•'•'responses to structural and other s t resses that are present in American

society" (14_v pp, 19-20), For example, the emphasis on success to some

extent explains the forces of discontent and frustration that generate

delinqurmi behavior in all classes. Home individuals may be unable to

obtain success by the prescribed rules while others may be unable to

maintain success; hence the forces ox discontent and frustrations arise,

Hager believes that the delinquent youth needs something to give him

promise, hope, or informed insight in order to obtain success, and being

told he is "v-rong/' •'•'sinful/' or that he must conform to specified rules

of conduct does not meet this need (14, p. 20).

Church Membership and Attendance

Various studies (4, 5, 15, 17, 27} show the lower social classes to

participate in religion less, both in attendance and membership, than

10

other classes. The guestioa ar ises a« to membership index being a

satisfactory criterion of religious activity, and how accurate the

measurement is in terms of actual as opposed to reported behavior.

For examplej some church members-' enthusiasm may have diminished

and yet they are still shown as members on the church rolls and are not

therefore distinguished from members with high enthusiasm. Others may

be keen on religion bat have never become church members. There are

also variations in religious groups' requirements concerning minimum

acceptable age for membership. Demerath says "It is possible that

church membership per se is a particularly poor measure of religiosity "

(9, p. 8). Frequency of attendance as an index has advantage over

membership in that its significance is the same for different dates and

denominations,, and Argyie (!) gives credit to attendance as the best

single index of religious activity.

A study by Brown "points towards religious belief being a re la-

tively isolated cognitive system, in which intensity of beli ef is independ-

ent of the strength of opinions about other matters" (3, p, 268). He says:

The relationships between belief and church membership, atritudinal acceptance of the Church ("institutionalization") and authoritarianism suggest that strong social support is required for the maintenance of a system-, of religious belief . This social basis of religious beliefs is confirmed by the absence of correlations with personality factors (3, p. 268).

11

Personality assessments were based on questionnaires of neurot-

icisnij, extr aversion, and anxiety. It i s Brown's contention that the

strength of belief is related to church membership and attitudirial

acceptance of the church rather than personality variables (3, pp. 2G0,

288).

So in looking at religions, belief in regard to membership and

attendance indexes, one needs to bear in mind that neither denotes the

quality of religiosity possessed by an individual.

Criminals, Delinquent;:, and Religion

Inasmuch as the great majority of hardened convicts begin their

criminal careers as juvenile delinquents (32, p. 366), i r would be wise

to give some consideration to studies of religious trends among the

latter. The development of religious beliefs in adolescence generally has

been explored systematically from various po/nis of view7, bui little

spnc.fic attention has been given to the religious concepts of delinquent

adolescents {31, p 250). However, the few studies that have reported the

relation of delinquency to church membership and attendaiice show wide

variations in their findings,

KvGraeeu/j (19, pp. 264-285} studied 701 delinquents composed of

ofc>3 boys and 198 girls, Of these, 66 per cent were Catholics, 23 per

cent were Protestants, and 2 per cent were Jews, for a total of 93

12

per cent claiming church affiliation. Fifty-four per cent were found

upon investigation to have attended church regularly, 20 per cent were

irregular in attendance, and 25 per cent never attended. There were only

slight differences between boys and girls in church attendance.

Neumeyer cites the Gluecks as finding *vuiil> 8,5 per cent of their

reformatory men attending church regularly before commitment, 8S.5

per cent were irregular in attendance, and 3 per cenc reported that they

were non-churchgoers" (25, p, 236).

Wattenberg (38) reported on a study of 2,13? boys v/ho were

interviewed on complaint by the Detroit police in 1948. The frequency

of church attendance in te rms of percentages are as follows; regular /

43.0 per cent; occasional, 25.6 per cent; seldom, 15.9 per cent; never,

14.2 per cent, Of the original group, 672 got into trouble again in 1947.

The church attendance figures of non-repecters, in terms of percentages,

are; regular 48.2, occasional 24.8, seldom 14.2, never 13.8, The

corresponding percentages of repeaters were- 37,9; 27.1; 19.5; and 14,8

(38, pp. 196-198).

Middle ton and Fay (21)- compared attitudes expressed by a group

of girls who wei e inmates of a correctional institution with those ex-

pressed by a group of high-school girls. Both groups were approximately

equal with respect to age, intelligence, and educational status. Their

findings showed 67 per cent of the delinquents reporting church

JLd

membership to only 49 per cent of the non-delinquents. But only-87 per

cent of the former group indicated that they owned a Bible against 92

per cent of the latter group (21, pp. 555-556).

Scholl and B.eker (31, pp. 250-252) compared religious beliefs

reported by institutionalized Protestant delinquents with those reported

by a group of non-institutionalized Proles tan I. adolescents. The results

of the study suggest that the expressed religious attitudes and beliefs

of delinquent adolescent boys do not differ greatly from those of non-

delinquents. And they could find no evidence to support the idea that

whether or not-the individual adopts delinquent behavior patterns is criti-

cally related to his religions attitudes or beliefs.

There is considerable evidence indicating that known criminals do

not differ significantly from the general population with respect to

nominal religious affiliation. Dunn (11, p. 206) found in his investigations

that 19^88?., or 77.3 per cent, out of a total of 25,728 inmates of 27 state

penitentiaries, claimed affiliation with either the Protestant or Catholic

faith,

Smith's report on the Washington State Penitentiary, as of October

1945, with a prison population of approximately 1,500, gives the follow-

ing picture concerning prisoners and religion:

14

A total of 454,.or 30 p.er cent, said they were actually mem-bers of some church, Some 500 others were known to "profess belief in: God and acquiescence with the principles and tenets of the Protestant faith, but without sectarian connections.* Some- 400 others failed to answer the questions on religion, while but 25 were listed as "atheists/ and only 31 as '-'agnostics" (32, p. 364).

Bonger much earlier bad calculated the proportion of members of

various religious groups in the Netherlands who were convicted of differ-

ent crimes from 1001 to 1900 and found thai for most offenses the Cath-

olics bad the highest rates, the Protestants the next highest, and that

except in cases of receiving stolen goods; embezzlement, and fraud—in

Which they led the list—Jews came third. The lowest rate was shown by

those who were not members of any religious body (22, p. 429),

Murchison's findings concerning inmates in the Maryland Peniten-

tiary showed that 43.5 per cent were members of some Protestant

church, 34.4 per cent were Catholics, 7.9 percent were Hebrews, while

14.3 per cent were agnostics (24, p. 430). The corresponding percentages

for the estimated total population of Maryland 13 years of age and over

in 1926 were: Protestant, 33,4 per cent; Catholic, 14.7 per cent: leaving

approximately 5? per cent who did not belong to any religious body, com-

pared' to the 14.3 per cent in prison who did not belong to any religious

body (23, p. 79h

Thus these studies indicate that the great majority of inmates

claim nominal affiliation with some church or -express a preference for

15

some denomination, and Smith reports that ''usually less than 5 per cent

fail to designate at least a superficial interest in organized religion"

(33. p. 482). He also makes the following comments:

x, ' t Studies of prisoners' social backgrounds , . . reveal .tha

many of them make exaggerated statements regarding the nature of their relationships to the church. . . There are practically no "atheists" among convicts . , . but this does not mean that a large proportion of them , , . may not be almost wholly indifferent to the church as an institution (33, p. 462),

Thus it seems quite obvious that church membership and/or

attendance does not prevent the individual from committing aggressive

devi an t behavior,

Coe (?, p. 182), in studying characteristics that distinguished well-

adjusted from, poorly adjusted inmates, .found that the religion variable

did not significantly differentiate well-adjusted from poorly adjusted

inm?.tes.

Another approach to the study of religion and crime is to test the

hypothesis that if religion is effective in preventing crime, then we should

find in areas where a large proportion of the population has membership

in some church that there would be relatively few crimes; but in those

areas where the percentage of church members declines, there should be

many crimes. However, Miner (23, pp. 80-81} found little relation be-

tween the proportion of church members in a state and the crime rates,

but he did find homicides, on the average, to be fewer in sta.tes with high

percentages of Catholics than m s£»tes with high percentages of Meth-

odists a'.id Baptises.

16

Even though emphasis is placed on liquor prohibition by many

churches, Miner found that states with large percentages of church mem-

bers are the states where the enforcement of liquor laws is poor (23,

p. 81). So again the.question arises as to the effectiveness of religions

beliefs in deterring people from crime. Miner summarizes Ms study

deaUng with the correlation of percentage of church members to commit-

.ment ratios with this conclusion:

There is probably a slight tendency toward an inverse rela-tionship between percentage of church members and amount of crime,, a tendency winch shows itself more clearly for the total religious bodies than for the Catholics or the Methodists and Baptists separately, but there is not that invariable marked in-verse relationship which one might expect a priori for an institution which is traditionally one of the chief guardians of morality. In brief, there is little evidence thai the churches play any major part in the prevention of crime (23, p. 81).

The Criminal Act and the Criminal

Since this study is concerned with both the criminal and Ms crim-

inal act with respect to religion, some attention is given to studies

dealing, with the criminal and his criminal, act,

Peterson, Pittrnan and O'Neal studied'the assaultive component

in criminal behavior. Their assumption was

That the two fcroad divisions into which the several legal categories are conventionally separated, i.e., crimes against persons and crimes against property, have certain unique attributes which clearly set them apart, from each other (29 , p. 44).

One of the two means used in the preliminary identification of the

17

differences between offenders in the two categories was '-'by showing,

that - individuals have stable patterns of-deviance, tending-to commit

either violent or non-violent crimes, but not both'7 (29, pp. 44-45)

Their findings showed:

Eighty of the sample of 83 cases, or 91 per cent, presented a pattern of stable deviancy, , , . Eighty-six per cent of all prior arrestees in the sample showed patterns of stable deviancy in terms of person and properly crimes.

These eight, cases with unstable deviancy patterns differ rather markedly from the rest of the sample in a number ot ways. They have been arrested far more-often than the average, . .. . There is not a single arres t for murder in the group, and th?ir larcenices tend to be petty. Thus, the picture of the violator with an unshble deviancy pattern i s , . . that of the frequently arres t -ed nuisance offender (29, pp, 45-48).

Webster interpreted Ms findings to show intelligence among crim-

inals to be grouped in the following order—from highest to lowest:

Fraudists, Larcenisrs, Robbers, Sex Offenders, Burglars, and Murder-

ers. Thus, there would seem to be a relationship between level of

intelligence and type of crime committed, And it is his view thoi there

is a relationship between personality and crime committed which is

most noticeable in the cases of Sex Offenders, Murderers and Robbers---

from highest to lowest deviation from normal (39, pp. 177-179),

Thus in view of the literature, one may expect a high proportion

of prison inrn^ies to report either church affiliation or to have a pref-

erence for some religious faith. Since a high percentage of the prisoners

18

do express church membership or state a religious preference, it is

conceivable that they may have a strong belief in the Christian religion.

As the literature suggests that there exists a possible relationship

between either intelligence or personality and type of crime committed,

one can also postulate a relationship between the type of crime committed

and the quality or intensity of religious belief possessed by the criminal.

Hence, the need exists for a determination of the quantity of

religious belief possessed by persons who have committed crimes,

since the variables of church membership, religious preference, and

frequency of church attendance used to measure.religiosity pre not in

themselves indicators of the quantity ol religious belief. If the quantity

or intensity of religious belief of prisoners is assessed through a relig-

iosity questionnaire and. is found to coirelate significantly with their

claims of church membership and churehaitendan.ee, then the prisoners'

expression of a high degree of religiosity can result in more credence

being placed in the various studies which have- used religiosity indexes

consisting of church membership or frequency of church attendance..

These previous studies have tended to indicate that religion has not

been the strong deterrent to crime that might have been expected from

an institution which exalts such virtues as truth, morality, and justice

and which is "also capable of invoking supernatural sanction to induce

compliance with its edicts.

19

CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Argyle. Michael, Religious Behaviour, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958.

2. Bardis, Panos D., "A Religion Scale/-' Social Science, XXXYI (April, 1961), 120-123.

3. Brown, L. B., "A Study of Religious Belief," British Journal of Psychology, LIU (August, 1982)s 259-272.

4. Burchirial, Lee C., "'Some Social Status Criteria and Church Mem-bership and Church Attendance," The Journal of Psychology, XLIX (February, 1959), 53-64.

5. Cantril, Hadley. "Educational and Economic Composition of Reli-gious Groups: An Analysis of Poll Data," The American Journal of Sociology, XLVIII (March, 1943), 574-579*. "

6. Carr , Lowell J. , Delinquency Control, New York. Harper & Bros,, 1950.

7. Coe, Rodney M., "Characteristics of Well Adjusted and Poorly Adjusted Inmates/ ' Journal of Criminal Law", Criminology, arid Police Science, LIX (July-August, 1961), 178-184.

8. Davis, Kingsiey, Human Society, New York, The MacMillan Compa-ny, 1954.

9. Demerafch III, N. J., Social Class in American Protestantism, Chicago, Rand McNally & Company. 1965.

10. Dudycha, George J., -'-'The Religious Beliefs of College Students/' Journal of Applied Psychology, XVII (1933), 585-603,

11. Dufia, C. V., "The Church and Crime in the United States/ ' The Annals of the American Acaderay, CXXV (May, 1926), 200-228.

20

12. Ferguson-, Leonard W., "A Revision of the Primary Social Attitude Scales," The Journal of Psychology, XVII (January-April, 1944), 229-241.

13. C-lock, Charles Y. and. Rodney Stark, Religion and Society in Ten-sion, Chicago, Rand McNaily & Company, 1965,

14. Hager, Don J., "Religion, Delinquency, and Society," Social Work, II (Julyj 1957), 16-21.

15. Hollingshead, August B., Elmtown's Youth, New York, Science Editions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1906.

16. Holtzman, Wayne II. and Robert K. Young, "Scales for Measuring Attitudes Toward the Negro and Toward Organized Religion/' Psychological Reports, XVIII (February, 1966), 31-34.

17. Jitodai, Ted T., "Migrant Status and Church Attendance,'-' Social Forces, XLIII (December, 1964), 241-248. ~~

18. Johnson, F. Ernest, '-'Do Churches Exert Significant Influence on Public Morality,v' The Annals of tiie American Academy, CCLXXX (March, 1952), 125-132.""

19. Kvaraccus, William C., "Delinquent Behavior and Church Attend-ance," Sociology and Social Research, XXVIII (March-April, 1944), 284-289. * - - - - -

20. McCabe, Francis D., Director of Probation for the state of Indiana, before the Episcopal Social Work Conference at Montreal in June, 1935, cited in Lowell J. C a n , Delinquency Control, New York, Harper & Bros., 1950, pp. 498-499.

21. Middleton, Warren C. and Paul J. Fay, "Attitudes of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Girls Toward Sunday Observance, the Bible, and War," The Journal of Educational Psychology, XXXII (October, 1941), 555-5~53.

22. Miner, John R., "Church Membership and Commitments of Prison-ers ," Human Biology. Ill (September, 1931), pp. 429-436, citing" W. A. Bonger, Criminality and Economic Conditions, Boston, Little, Brown and Co., 1916, pp. xxx + 706.

2!

23. , "Do the Churches Prevent Crime?" The Ameri-can Mercury, XXV (January. 1922), 73-81.

24. Murchison, Carls "American White Criminal Intelligence/' Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, XV ^November, 1924), pp. 235-494, cited in John R. Miner, -Church Membership and Commitments of P r i sone r s / ' Human Biology, III (September, .1931), p. 430.

25. Neumeyer, Martin H., Juvenile Delinquency in Modern Society. New York, D, Van Nostrand Co., Inc., j 955, p. 238, citing Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, Five_ Hundred Criminal Careers^ New Yo.rk3

A. A. Knopf, 1930, pp. 131 -132.

26. Nunn, Clyde Z., "Child-Control Through a "Coalition with God,7' Child Development, XXXV (June, 1964), 417-432.

27. Obenliaus, Victor, W. Widick Schroeder, and Charles D. England, "Church Participation Related to Social Class and Type of Center/ ' Rural Sociology, XXIII (September, 1958), 298-308. " .

28. Ostow, Mortimer, "The Nature e l Religious Controls,* The Ameri-can Psychologist, XIII (October, 1958), 571-574. .

29. Peterson, Richard A., David J . Pittman, and Patricia O'Neal, "Stabilities in Deviance: A Study of Assaultive and Non-Assaultive Offenders," Journal of Criminal Law. Criminology, and Police. Science, LIII (March, 1962}, 44-48.

30. Rankin, Fay Swogger, "The Religious Attitudes Qf College Students," Teachers College Contribution to Education, Nashville, George Peabody College, 1938.

31. Scfcoli, Mason E. and Jerome Beker, "A Comparison of the Religious Beliefs of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Protestant Adolescent Boys," Religious Education. LIX (May-June, 1964), 250-252.

32. Smith, Philip M., "Organized Religion and Criminal Behavior/ ' Sociology and Social Research, XXX JIX (May-June, 1949), 362-387.

33. , "Pr isoners ' Attitudes Toward Organized Reli-gion," Religious Education, LI (November-December, 1956), 462-464. "

22

34. Thibaut, J. W. anc! E, H. Kelly, The Social Psychology of Groups, New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958, cited in Clyde Z. Nunn, "Child-Control Through a '-'Coalition with God," Child Developmentj XXXV (June, 1984), pp. 418-419.

35. Thouless, Robert H., "The Tendency to Certainty in Religious . Belief/ ' The British Journal of Psychology, XXVI (July, 1935),

16-31.

36. Thurstone, L. L. and E. J. Chave, The Measurement of Attitude, Chicago, University of Chicago Press , 1929,

37. U. S. Department of Justice, Uniform Crime Reports—1966, Wash-ington, Government Printing Office, 1967.

38. Wattenberg, William W., "Church Attendance and Juvenile Mis-conduct/'' Sociology and Social Research, XXXIV (January-February, 1950)s 195-202.

39. Webster j A. Stanley, "Personality and Intelligence of Convicts in West Virginia," Journal of Criminal Lav/, Criminology, and Police Science, XLTlJuiy-Ti"ugiii"t7T954)7TT6-T797- —

CHAPTER II '

METHOD

Description of Subjects

The subjects involved in the present study were 400 prison inmates

of the various units" of the Texas Correctional Institution as of March

1968. Out of a prison population of approximately 12,000, there were

8,742 with Isss than two years confinement which was the population

universe sampled. This selection was made in the attempt to gain a better

measure of the prisoner's religiosity prior to his incarceration.

Collection of Data

At the tin;e the study v/as conducted, the Texas Correctional

Institution used 747 codes in the classification of criminal acts. These

codes were analyzed for categorising under nine groupings: Homicide;

Robbery; Assault; Burglary; Larceny; Auto Theft; Embezzlement, Fraud

and Forgery; Sex Offenses: and "Others. '* With the exception of "Others,"

378 codes were used in the major categories and the balance—369—were

placed in the -''Others-" category.

After this grouping, there was the problem of assigning multiple-

offense prisoners to the proper category. Within the population universe

23

24

studied, there were 1,376, or 20.4 per cent, who were multiple-offense

.prisoners. An IBM listing of the population was made, giving not only

the different offenses committed by each prisoner but the number of

times each offense was committed. From this the following categories

were set up: Homicide; Assault; Theft by Violence; Sex Offenses; Crimes

Against Person and Property; Embezzlement, Fraud and Forgery; Theft;

"Other" Offenses; and Unclassified Offenses, The arbi t rary determina-

tion as to the category a multiple-offender was assigned was based on

the seriousness of the crime—e.g., Theft by Violence; Robbery; Crime

Against Person and Property; and Embezzlement and Assault--with

consideration given to the number of times the act was committed in

each category. Thus the multiple-offenders necessitated the readjustment

of the categories from the original designations.

The questionnaires were administered to the respondents by

chaplains of the different correctional units, and they also assisted those

prisoners who were illiterate. However, they were to emphasize that

answers would in no way bias the pr isoner 's commitment. The chaplains

were also advised to explain t e rms which the respondent did not under-

stand so as not to influence the prisoner's answer.

The Questionnaire was not anonymous since identification was

necessary for grouping the questionnaires according to the crime cate-

gories; therefore, the name and nuir.ber of each respondent appeared on

his questionnaire.

v . - 25

The sample size of the various crime categories is not based on

proportionality since some groups would have consisted of only 10 or 11

respondents, thus making the measure of religiosity less accurate for

these groups. Hence- the sample sizes range from"27 to 76 prisoners, or

from 2.4 to 11 per cent, for each of the crime categories. Systematic

sampling was used in the selection of respondents from each category.

The selection began with the f i rs t prisoner on the IBM listing who had

committed the specified crime and who was also categorized in that

particular crime category. Then the following selections varied from

every 7th prisoner in a particular category to every 29th prisoner in

other categories depending on the number of prisoners listed in a

category.

Description of Measuring Instrument

A religious intensity questionnaire was administered to each of

the subjects as a measure of religiosity, A specimen copy of the instru-

ment is presented in the Appendix. The questionnaire was constructed

by the investigator through the consulting of religious doctrines and from

other -studies (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6> 7, 8,) in regard to religion, It is a 52-item

questionnaire to which numerical values are assigned to each of the

questions. Numerical values range from a score of aero, indicating that

the respondent ''Strongly Agrees" with the statement, through a score of

52

26

four, which indicates the respondent '-btrongly Disagrees .withthe scate

ment. A summation of the scores divided by the common denominator

gives the person's religiosity score,which was used in the analysis of the

data. Nine personal background questions were also asked, of which

church affiliation and church attendance were used in the analysis of the

data. Regular church attendance was defined as attending church three

times or more each month, and occasional attendance as less tnan three

times each month.

The validity of the questionnaire was based on the resul ts obtained

from administering it to 204 college students enrolled at North Texas

State University during the 1967-1868 fall semester . They were enrolled

in f reshman sociology classes, although, the class standings included

freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

Although mere frequency of church attendance can not be construed

as the absolute degree of a person's religiosity, it is probably acceptable

that there is likely to be a high degree of association between religiosity

and frequency of attendance. Thus, this was the basis for the test of

validity in regard to religiosity.

Findings showed that 25, or 86 per cent, of those individuals who

indicated church membership and scored within the "'Strongly Agree '

category, (N=29), had also indicated regular church attendance. Those

who scored within the "Agree* category, (N-83), showed 41, or 49 per

27

cent, with regular church attendance. The "Undecided or Don't Know"

group, (N-51), had 14, or 27 per cent, with regular attendance; and in

the "Disagree" category, (N-ll), there was 1, or 9 per cent, indicating

regular attendance. There were no church members in the "Strongly

Disagree" category. -

Of the students indicating church membership, 46.5 per cent re-

ported they attended worship services regularly, and 53.5 per cent said

that they attended occasionally or never, Thus this seems to indicate

that as the degree of religious intensity declines so also does the f re-

quency of church attendance decrease.

The questionnaire required from 10 to 15 minutes for administra-

tion.

Procedures for Analyzing Data •

The tenability of the hypotheses of this study was determined by

the following means:

1. Hypothesis One was tested using the respondents' reported

church affiliation and frequency of church attendance, and by a compari-

son of the religiosity mean scores of the- three groups: church members,

those expressing a religion preference, and those indicating no religious

affiliation. Fisher 's £test was used to determine the significant, differ-

ence- between these three groups, with .0t» chosen as the acceptable level

28

2. Hypothesis Two was tested by the analysis of variance of mean

religiosity scores among the nine crime categories, and also testing for

a significant difference between means of the independent groups using

Fisher 's t_ technique.

The .05 level of significance determined the acceptance or rejection

of Hypothesis Two. The significance of the t ratio results will be indi-

cated in the following manner:

* P — .05 ** ,01 *** P - .001

29

CHAPTER BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Bardis, Panos D., "A Religion Scale," Social Science, XXXVI (April, 1961), 120-123.

2. Dudycha, George J., "The Religions Beliefs of College Students/' Journal of Applied Psychology, XVII (1933), 585-803.

3. Ferguson, Leonard W., "A Revision of the Primary Social Attitude Scales," The Journal of Psychology, XVII (January-April, 1944), 229-241.

4. Glock, Charles Y. and Rodney Stark, Reli gion and Society in Tension, ChicagOj Rand McNally & Company, 1965.

5. Holtzman, Wayne H. and Robert K. Young. "Scales for Measuring Attitudes Toward the Negro and Toward Organized Religion," Psychological Reports, XVIII (February, 1966). 31-34.

6. Rankin. Fay Swogger, "The Religious Attitudes of College Students/ Teachers College Contribution to Education, Nashville, George Peabody College, 1938,

7. Thouless, Robert H., "The Tendency to Certainty in Religious Belief," The British Journal of Psychology, XXVI (July, 1935), 16-31.

8. Thurstone, L. L. and E. J. Chave, The Measurement of Attitude, Chicago, University of Chicago Press s 1929.

CHAPTER HI

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS C)F RESULTS

The data collected as a result of the procedures described in

Chapter II were analyzed statistically in regard to their relevance to the

hypotheses stated ' in Chapter I. Analyses of tire results" were made

through the use of two statistical techniques: analysis of variance and

Fisher's t. technique.

Hypothesis One was the prediction that not only do a high proportion

of the inmates in Texas Correctional Institutions purport church affilia-

tion and frequent church attendance before being incarcerated but they

also profess a strong belief-in the-Christian religion.

The findings provided by questionnaires from 400 prisoners showed

the following: J.96 prisoners, or 48 per cent, indicated they were church

members; 138, or 34,5 per cent, indicated that they were not church

members but they did support a church or had a religious preference;

and 63, or 18.5- per cent, of the prisoners reported neither church

affiliation ncr a preference. Thus thf.se percentages do support the

hypothesis that there would be a nigh proportion of the inmates in Texas

Correctional Institutions who would report church affiliation prior to

31

incarceration, and it can be s'oen that only a minor per cent (16,5) of

the prisoners have neither church affiliation nor religious preference,

The frequency of church attendance showed the following: 103

prisoners, or 27 per cent, reported regular attendance; 182, or 45.5 per

cent, reported occasional attendance; and 110, or 27.5 per cent, either

failed to answer or reported that they never attended church. Thus a

combined total of regular and occasional church attendance amounted to

290, or 72.5 per cent, of the prisoners. Although this combined total

percentage is quite significant, the low per cent of regular attendance

distracts from the substantiation of frequent church attendance in

Hypothesis One,

There were 382 of the questionnaires which were sufficiently

answered for use in the determination of religiosity. These question-

naires showed the following degrees of religious intensity; those prison-

ers indicating church membership possessed'a religiosity mean of 1.07,

placing them in the ''Agree" category; those expressing church support

or preference had a religiosity mean score of 1,08, also placing them

in the '-Agree'* category; those expressing no church affiliation possessed

a religiosity mean score of 1.60 which placed them in the "Undecided

or Don't Know" category.

Although Fisher's t_test does not distinguish a significant differ-

ence between the religiosity score of those prisoners indicating church

32

membership from those indicating a religious preference, it does show

a significant difference between both of these groups and the group of

prisoners who indicate no church affiliation or preference. The means,

standard deviationss.and t_ ratios are shown in Table I.

TABLE I

t RATIOS BETWEEN PAIRS OF MEAN RELIGIOSITY SCORES FOR THREE RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION CATEGORIES

Religiosity

Categories Mean SD t

Church Member (N-189) Religious Preference (N=132)

1.07 1.08

.64

.63 -0,14

Church Member (N=189) No Church Affiliation (N-61)

1.07 1.60 ^

CO OO

-5.17*

Religious Preference (N=132) No Church Affiliation (N=61)

1.08 1.60

.63 -

.-84 _ -4.72*

*P-- .001.

It will be noted that the religiosity of the prisoners does support

the hypothesis that a high proportion of the inmates in prison-will profess

a strong belief in the Christian religion. Table II shows the significance

of regular church attendance in relation to the religiosity score.

33

TABLE II

t RATIOS BETWEEN PAIRS OF MEAN RELIGIOSITY SCORES FOR CHURCH AFFILIATION AND CHURCH ATTENDANCE

Religiosity

Categories Mean SD t

Church Member (N 189) Regular attendance (N 66)

1.07 .89

.64

.52 2.11*

Religious Preference (N 132) Regular attendance (N 29)

1,08 .82

.63

.40 2.08*

Church Member (N 189) Regular and occasional attendance (N 159)

1.07

1.02

.64

.61 .72

* D < .05.

Table II thus indicates a significant relationship between the

religiosity -score and regular attendance, but other than regular attend-

ance this relationship is not significant.

It was stated in Hypothesis Two that there would be a significant

difference in the religiosity of a prisoner and the type of crime he had

committed. Specifically, there would be a significant difference between

the religiosity score of a prisoner who had committed homicide and the

religiosity score of a prisoner who had committed a crime or crimes

against both person and property. Table III shows the summary of the

34

analysis of variance of mean religiosity scores among the nine c r ime

categories and the 382 respondents.

TABLE III

ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF MEAN RELIGIOSITY SCORES AMONG NINE CRIME CATEGORIES

Kind of Sum of Variation df Squares Variance F

Between groups 8 4,70 .59 .89

Within groups 373 180.90 .66

Total 381 185.60 * # • •

An F rat io of .89 was obtained,which indicates no significant d i f fer-

ence at the selected .05 level of significance. Table IV shows the resul ts

obtained by using a _t test between pa i r s of religiosity mean scores of

c r ime groups.

TABLE IV

t RATIOS BETWEEN PAIRS OF MEAN RELIGIOSITY SCORES FOR EIGHT CRIME CATEGORIES

Crime Categories Mean SD 1

Homicide (N-33) Person and Property (N-33)

1.05 1.45

.59

.84 -2.20*

Religiosity

TABLE IV—Continued

Religiosity-

Crime Categories Mean SD t

Homicide (N=33) Unclassified (N-28)

1.05 1.31

.59

.73 -1.58

Homicide (N=33) Assault (N=27)

1.05 1.17

.59

.67 -0.72

Person and Property (N=33) Embezzlement, Fraud and Forgery (N-35)

1.45

1,08

.84

.51 2.29*

"Other" Offenses (N=62) Person and Property (N-33)

1.09 1.45

.65

.84 -2.29*

Sex Offense (N=29)-Person and Property (N-33)

1.08 1.45

.79

.84 -1.75

Theft (N=76) Person and Property (N=33)

1,14 1.45

.72

.84 -1.93

Assault (N=27) Person and Property (N-33)

1.17 1.45

.67

.84 -1.39

,05.

It will be noted that in genera! Hypothesis Two was not sustained,

since the analysis of variance shows no significant difference between

the religiosity means at the .05 level of significance. However, the t_

test partially confirms the hypothesis by showing a significant difference

between the religiosity mean score associated with the Homicide crime

38

category and the religiosity mean score associated with the Person and

Property crime category. There is also a significant difference between

the crime category of Embezzlement, Fraud, and Forgery and the crime

category of "Other" Offenses versus the category of Person and Prop-

erty. But these are the only combinations showing a significant differ-

ence out of many possible co.'ibinations.

CHAPTER IV " '

DISCUSSION OF TEE RESULTS

This discussion is restr icted to the implications of the statistical

results presented in Chapter III. It will consider the criminal and his

religious affiliation and frequency of church attendance prior to his

incarceration, as well as the prisoner 's pr ior religiosity and the type of

crime which he committed.

Church Membership and Attendance

The literature suggests that among delinquents and criminals there

is a high proportion who profess to church affiliation. However, the few

studies have varied conclusions and thus provide no basis for making

generalisations with regard to membership and attendance.

Hypothesis One of this study pertained to the prisoner 's .church

affiliation, frequency 01 church attendance, and religiosity prior to incar-

ceration. The findings show that a high proportion of the prisoners do

profess to a religious affiliation. The resul ts of this study tend to fall

within a lower range of the percentages reported by the li terature. The

religious supporter or preference group percentage agrees with the

li terature. • The findings relating to no church affiliation or preference

37

38

show a slightly higher percentage than that reported in the l i terature,

but since there is a dearth of l i terature on this subject a comparison

has little meaning,

' The frequency of church attendance, based on the findings, tends

to indicate a rather low percentage of church participation. Whether this

is low in comparison with the general population outside the prison is

beyond the scope of this study. Since the l i terature deals only with

delinquency and frequency of church attendance, it can only be stated

that the criminals ' reported attendance was in agreement with one study,

but. it was lower than that reported by two other studies. A plausible

explanation - for this disagreement could be the age factor, assuming

that, parental influence has thus diminiphed for the older group and that

they probably also have less tendency to give the so-called '•'proper"

response. Thus it seems these results would be expected for an older

age group.

There are wide percentage separations between the groups of

religious affiliations and the categories of frequencies in church attend-

ance. However, the frequency of church association does not appear to

have b e e n a crime preventive, as the percentage of prisoners expressing

regular church attendance is so n e a r l y equal (-.5 per cent) the percent

of those prisoners reporting no church attendance.

39

The findings on religiosity as expressed by the prisoners did

sustain the hypothesis. Even though the amount of exaggeration is not

known, neither is this known when working with individuals who are not

criminals and who profess to a belief in religion. Exaggeration is prob-

ably presumed to be greater among criminals thannon-criminals because

they have broken the rules of society, have been caught/' and are thus

believed to be attempting to make a favorable impression upon the

authorities.

One interpretation of the significant difference between the mean

religiosity score of the group expressing no church affiliation or prefer-

ence (NrGl) versus the mean religiosity scores of the church member

and church supporter or preference groups (N-32I) is the support it

gives to the view that religious belief is not the deterrent to crime that

it is commonly believed to be. There is also an indication that prisoners

do not necessarily attempt to portray a pseudo-image with the hope of

a personal, gain.

The use of prison chaplains to administer the questionnaires did

not appear to have influenced the prisoners' answers in the direction

of a higher religiosity score. The scores are very diversified and out

of a possible range from zero to 4.00, they vary from zero to 3.73,

Even the assistance which the chaplains gave the illiterate prisoners

(there were 23, or 6 per cent, such cases) did not appear to have

40

influenced the respondents' answers. Many prisoners without assistance-

scored a higher religiosity than did those receiving help.

The Criminal Act and the Criminal

The literature suggests that certain unique attributes may be

associated with the criminal and the type of crime he commits. This was

the basis for Hypothesis Two, but in general this hypothesis was not

sustained. Although the analysis of variance did not distinguish a signi-

ficant difference at the ,05 level of .significance. F isher ' s t. test did

distinguish a significant difference at the chosen level between the follow-

ing crime categories: Homicide versus Person and Property; Embezzle-

ment, Fraud and Forgery versus Person and Property; and "Other-''

Offenses versus Person and Property. But these were the only categories

between which there did exist a significant difference. A possible expla-

nation for this could be that cr imes which were grouped under the

categories of Homicide, "Other" Offenses, and Embezzlement, Fraud

and Forgery may be of such nature that the individual can justify their

commission, rationalizing his behavior to be congruent with-his religious

belief. The rationale for the other categories may be the use of unlawful

means to gain lawful ends. Thus religious justification or highly desired

ends may be the determining factors in these situations.

CHAPTER V

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent religious

belief exists among the individuals who are incarcerated for criminal

acts, The study involved the determination of church membership or

religious preference, frequency of church attendance, and religiosity

prior to confinement.

The hypotheses of the study were a8 follows:

1. That not only do a high proportion of the prisoners in Texas

Correctional Institutions purport church affiliation and frequent church

attendance before being incarcerated, bat they also profess a strong

belief in the Christian religion.

2, That there will be a significant difference in the degree of

religiosity or intensity of religious belief proclaimed by criminals

according to the types of crimes committed. Specifically, persons who

commit homicide will indicate a higher degree of religiosity than those

who commit offenses against both the person and property.

The subjects employed were 400 male inmates of the different

units of the Texas Correctional Institution as of March, 1988, They

41

42

responded to a 52-item questionnaire designed by the investigator to

obtain personal data and to measure religiosity. The questionnaire was

designed to be scored quantitatively to provide a total religiosity score.

Following the collection and tabulation of the data, the resu l t s

were analysed by two s tat is t ical techniques: analysis of variance, and

F isher ' s t technique.

The s tat is t ical analysis of the data revealed-the folio wing findings:

Hypothesis One was in general confirmed; however the frequency

of church attendance could be considered to be weak in i ts support.

Hypothesis Two was partially confirmed. The s ta t is t ical computa-

tions were made on the basis oL382 scores . The analysis of variance

showed no significant difference among the nine cr ime categories,

although Fisher's t_test. did show a significant difference at the .05 level

for Homicide versus Person and Proper ty; Embezzlement, Fraud and

Forgery versus Person and Proper ty; and ••Other" Offenses ve rsus

Person and Proper ty . • -

Conclusions

While the findings of the study apply only to the population studied,

they do have certain general implications for other s imi lar populations.

It may be concluded that there i s a high proportion of prison in-

mates who profess to being church members , and a l e s se r proportion

43

who have a religious preference. However, the religious preference

proportion will be greater than that for the no-church-affiliation, no-

church-preference group.

Also there will be a signif icant clifference between the percentage

proclaiming church membership and the percentage reporting regular

church attendance, with the latter being much the lower.

In addition, it can be said that high religiosity is related to regular

church attendance.

- . " Recommendations

On the basis of the findings of this study, it is recommended that

(!) a study be conducted using both a prison population and an outside

group in a comparison of religiosity, and; (2) that further study be done

in the area of crime categorizing to develop a more refined and uniform

system of classification.

APPENDIX

RELIGIOSITY QUESTIONNAIRE

45

An Experiment in Religious Intensity

The value of this experd-.-p-i Js upon your willing and thorough cooperation, Please answer all the questions and show as near as. possible what you believed concerning each of these questions before the time of your arrest« - .

Is Age . 2. Religious Denomination . 3, Highest standing you attained at school or college: ~

Completed 8th Grade, Yes- ; No . High School--Grade 10 ; 11 .; 11 , High School Graduate. Yes ; No • College-™

First Year Fourth Year . Second Year . , Graduate • Third Year » '

4» Church affiliation. Supporter ;̂ Member ; Official 1 5« Did you attend church regularly (3 times or more each m o n t h ) ;

Occasionally (less than 3 times each month) ? ; Never 6, Did your parents differ on religious questions? Yes ; No * 7, Do you consider your parents to have been strict? ; ~

Reasonable ; Lenient t 8, Would you consider your paretics to have been liberal or conservative

in-religious matters? Libora 1 ; Conservative . 9, Did your best friends go to your own church? Most of them? ;

Few t 10e Do you pray on your own? Daily ; Sometimes ; Never ,

In the following statements please circle the number that most nearly expresses your belief.

Strongly Undecided or Strongly Agree Agree Don't Know Disagree Disagree

0 1 2 3 4

Examples; If you Strongly Agree with the statement circle 0

If you Agree with the statement circle I

If you are Undecided or Don11 Know about the statement circle 2

If you Disagree with the -statement- circ-le 3

If you Strongly Disagree with the statement circle 4

Please be sure to answer all the Statements,

Clrc le one

0 1 2 3 4 (I) I believe that God really exists«.

0 1 2 3 4 (2) 1 believe that there is a soul,

0 1 2 3 4 (3) 1 believe va the divine nature of Jesus Christ,

0 1 2 3 4 (4) Christ: died to savn sinners as the Bible claims*

0 1 2 3 .4 (5) God really answers people when they pray.

0 1 2 3 4 (6) I believe in the forgiveness of sin.

0 1 2 3 4 (7) Before one can be saved, one must feel that he is ~ a sinner«

0 1 2 3 4 (8) Christ was really born of a virgin as the New Testament says.

0 1 2 3 4 (9) Sunday is a holy day.

0 1 2 3 4 (10) I believe that Christ performed miracles,

0 1 2 3 4 (11) The people who wrote the Bible were told by God just what to put in it,

0 1 2 3 4 (12) 1 believe there is a Holy spirit.

0 1 2. 3 4 (13) 1 believe that a heaven really exists.

0 1 2 3 4 (14) X believe there is a life after death.

0 1 2 3 4 (15) I believe that man is saved by faith.

0 1 2 3 4 (16) 1 believe everyone will be called before God

0 1 2 3 4 (17)

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

(18)

(19)

(20)

(21)

0 1 2 3 4 (22)

judgment day to answer for his sins,

I believe that at the resurrection people will be brought to life again to live forever•

There are angels in heaven.

There is a Hell in which the wicked will be everlastingly punished. . - - .

1 believe that sex is evil«

To believe in evolution is not agreeable with belief in a Creator.

The spirits of human beings continue to exist after the death of their bodies.

0 1 J. 2 3 4 (23) God made man out of dust and breathed life into

0 1 7 3 4 (24) There is a God who is altogether good.

0 1 2 *s 3 4 (25) The world was created by God.

0 1 2 3 4 (26) The devil really exists.

0 1 2 3 4 (27) There is a God who is a 11-powerful.

0 1 2 3 4 (28) To believe in God makes Ixfc more meaningful.

0 1 2 3 4 (29) Jesus Christ was th<? Sen of God*

47

0 1 2 3 4 (30) Opposition to evo i u t i o n i s not due simply to ignorance.

0 1 2 3 4 (31) The idea of God g ives rnw s sense of security.

0 1 2 3 4 (32) 1 trust in God to . support the right and condemn the

0 1 2 3 4 (33

0 1 2 3 4- (34

0 1 2 3 4 (35

0 1 2 3 4 (36

0 1 2 3 4 (37

0 1 2 3 4 (38

0 1 2 3 4 (39

0 1 2 3 4 (40

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

0 1 2 3 4

41

42

43

44

0 1 2 3 4 (45

0 1 2 3 4 (46

0 1 2 3 4 (47

0 1 2 3 4 (43

0 1 2 3 4 (49

0 1 2 3 4 (50

0 1 2 3 4 (51

0 1 2 3 4 (5?

wrong.

People should say grace at all meals.

Prayer can solve many problems.

If the Biblical accounts conflict with the findings of science, then science must give way to the Biblical recordings.

God rewards those who live religiously.

People should attend church once a week if possible.

A sound religious faith is the best thing in life.

The church is the greatest institution in America today*

People who- do not attend church regularly usually lead unconstructive lives®

There has to be some kind of a power higher than that of man.

Some sort of religious outlook is necessary to achieve fully mature principles of life.

God hears and sees everything we say and do.

On Sunday if one is unable to attend church, the person should listen to a sermon or other religious address on the radio or television.

The miracles related in the Bible are really true happenings.

Children are born into this world with a sinful nature.

God may cause children to die just to punish their par exits.

Nearly all people are religious at least to some degree and this proves that we have a religious instinct.

Christ really arose from the dead after He was crucified,

Prayer is -necessary to the development of the highest type of individuals.

Going to church makes a parson better than the person who does not go * ~

Man is saved by works9 not by faith slone.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Argyle, Michael, Religious Behaviour, London, Routledge & ICegan Paul, 1958. ' ' "

Carr, I,owell J . . Delinquency Control, New York, Harper & Bros,, 1950,

Davis, Kingsley, Human Society, New York, The MacMillan Company, 19 54. ~ .

Demerath III, N. J., Social. Class in American Protestantism, Chicago, Rand McNaliy & Company, 1935.

Glockj Charles Y. and Rodney Stark, Religion and Society in Tension Chicago, Rand McNally & Company 1985.

Hollingshead, August B,t Klintown's Youth, New York, Science Editions, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1968.

McCabe, Francis D., Director of Probation for the state of Indiana, before the Episcopal Social Work Conference at Montreal in June, 1935, cited in Lowell J. Carr, Delinquency Control, New York, Harper & Bros., 1950, pp. 498-499.

Neumeyer, Martin H., Juvenile Delinquency in Modern Society, New York, D. Van No strand Co.s Inc., 1955;, p. 236, citing Sheldon and Eleanor Glueckj Five Hundred Criminal Careers, New York, A. A. Knopf, 1930, pp. 131-132. ~

3 Rankin, Fay Swogger, "The Religious Attitudes of.College Students, Teachers College Contribution to Education, Nashville, George Peabody College, 1938,

Thurstone, L. L. andE. J. Chave. The Meaanrenient of Attitude, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1929.

48

49

Art ic les

Allen, Donald E, and Har j i t S. Sandhu, "A. Comparative Study of Delin-quents and Non-Delinquents: Family Affect, Religion, and. Personal Income," Social Forces, XLV1 (December, 1967), 263-269.

Anders, Sarah Frances, "Religious Behavior of Church Families,77

Marriage and Family Living, XVII (February, 1955), 54-57.

Bardis , Panos D,, "A Religion Scale, r Social Science, XXXVI (April, 19 61), 120-123.

Brown, L. B., "A Study of Religious Belief/ ' ' Bri t ish Journal of Psychol-ogy, LIII (August, 1962), 259-272.

Burchinal, Lee C., ''Some Social Status Criteria and Church Membership and Church Attendance/ ' The Journal «f Psychology, XLIX (Febru-ary, 1959), 53-64. ~~" "" "

Cantril, Hadley, "Educational and Economic Composition of Religious Groups: An Analysis of Poll Data." The American Journal of Sociology, XLVIIX (March, 1943), 5V4-579. "

Coe, Rodney M., "Charac ter i s t ics of Well Adjusted and Poorly Adjusted Inmates / ' Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, LII (July-August, 1961), 178-184.

Dudycha, George J . , "The Religious Beliefs of College Students/ ' Journal of Applied Psychology, XVII (1933), 585-603.

Dunn, C. V., "The Church and Crime in the United S ta t e s / ' The Annals of the American Academy, CXXV (May, 1926), 200-228,

Ferguson, Leonard W., "A Revision of the P r ima ry Social Attito.de Sca les / ' The Journal of Psychology, XVII (January-April , 1844), 229-241.

Hager, Don J . , "Religion. Delinquency, and Society," Social Work, II (July, 1957), 16-21, ~~ "

Holtzman, Wayne H. and Robert K. Young, "Scales for Measuring Atti-tudes Toward the-Negro and Toward Organized Religion/ ' Psvcho-

' logical Reports , XVIII (February, 1965), 31-34,

50

Jitodai, Ted T., "Migrant Status and Church Attendance," Social Forces, XLIII (December, 1964), 241-248.

Johnson, F. Ernest, "Do Churches Exert Significant Influence on Public Morality," The Anna! s of the American Academy, CCLXXX (March, 1952), 125-132.

Kvaraccus, William C., "Delinquent Behavior and Church Attendance,'' Sociology and Social Research, XXVIII (March-April, 1944), 284-289. "* " ~

Maier, Joseph and William Spinrad, "Comparison of Religious Beliefs and Pract ices of Jewish, Catholic and Protestant Students," The Phylon Quarterly, XVIII (Fourth Quarter, 1957), 355-360.

Middleton, Warren C. and Paul J. Fay, Attitudes of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Girls Toward Sunday Observance, the Bible, and W a r / The Journal of Educational Psychology, XXXII (October, 1941), 555-558. "" .

Miner, John R., "Church Membership and Commitments of P r i s o n e r s / Human Biology, III (September, 1931), 429-43S,

, "Church Membership and the Homicide Rate," Hum a n Biology,"I (December, 1929), 562-564.

, "Do the Churches Prevent Crime?:' The American Mer-c u r y XXV (January, 1932)s 79-81.

Murchison, Carl, "American White Criminal Intelligence," Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, XV (August^ 1924), 239-316.

j "American White Criminal Intelligence," Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. XV (November, 1924)s pp. 235-494, cited in John R. Miner, "Church Membership and Commitments of Pr isoners ," Human Biology, III (September, 1931), p. 430.

Nunn? Clyde Z., "Child-Control Through a "Coalition with God," Child Development, XXXV (June, 1964), 417-432,

51

Obenhaus, Victor, W. Widick Schroeder, and Charles D. England, "Church Participation Related to Social Class and Type of Center," Rural Sociology, XXIII (September. 1958), 298-308.

Ostow, Mortimer, "The Nature of Religious Controls," The American Psychologist. XIII (October, 1958), 571-574.

Peterson, Richard A., David J. Pittman, and Patricia O'Neal, "Stabilities in Deviance: A Study of Assaultive and Non-Assaultive Offenders," "Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, LIU (March, 1962)s 44-48."' ~

Photiadis, John D., "Overt Conformity to Church Teaching as a Function of Religious Belief and Group Participation," The American Journal of Sociology, LXX (January, 1965)s 423-428.

Rosenberg, Morris , "The Dissonant Religious Context and Emotional Disturbance," The American Journal of Sociology, LXVII1 (July, 19 62), 1-10.

Scholl, Mason IS. and Jerome Beker, "A. Comparison of the Religious Beliefs' of Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Protestant Adolescent Boys/ ' Religious Education, L1X (May-June, 1984), 250-252.

Smith, Philip M,, "Organized Religion and Criminal Behavior," Sociology and Social Research, XXXIII (May-June, 1949),' 382-367.

, "Prisoners'" Attitudes Toward Organized Religion." Religious""Education, LI (November-December, 1958), 462-464,

Telford, C. W., "A Study of Religious Attitudes/' The Journal of Social Psychology, XXXI (May, 1950), 217-230. " ~

Thouless, Robert H., "The Tendency to Certainty in Religious Belief/ ' The British Journal of Psychology, XXVI (July, 1935), 18-31.

Wattenberg, William W,, "Church Attendance and Juvenile Misconduct," Sociology and Social Research, XXXIV (January-February, 1950), 195-202.'

Webster, A. Stanley, "Personality and intelligence of Convicts in West Virginia/ ' Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, _and Police Science, XLV (July-August, 1954), 178-179.

52

Wright, Derek and Edwin Cox, "Religious Belief and Co-education in a Sample of Sixth-Form Boys and Girls/ ' The British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, VI (February, 1967), 23-31.

Reports

U. S. Department of Justice, Uniform Crime Reports—1966, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1967.