The Paradoxical Relationship between Criminality & Religiosity with Volkan Topalli
A violent criminal is sent to prison - there, thanks to the prison ministry he finds God and leaves as a reformed soul, never to break another law for the rest of his virtuous life.
This might be an absurd-sounding cliche, but it appears to be the goal of many of America's prison ministries. The idea being that an offender who has 'got religion' is less likely to commit another crime. But is there any evidence to support this notion?
To find out I spoke with Volkan Topalli who is an associate professor of criminology at Georgia State University. Volkan has a particular interest in the causes of urban violence and has recently completed a study which explores the paradoxical relationship between religiosity and criminality
I began by asking him if there was any evidence for the notion that religion reforms violent prisoners:
You can find links to professor Topalli's work via the show-notes on poddelusion.co.uk.