Religion, Faith and Crime

"This book shows a deep insight into the impact of faith whilst also reflecting on social phenomena that affect faith communities. The issues raised are real and living issues affecting these communities. This book is deeply reflective and highly informative... a trailblazer." (Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Director of "Faith Matters") "Few texts have explored the relationship between religion, faith and crime in any depth, and fewer still have provided theoretical, historical and empirical analyses to bring to life the nuances of this relationship. This is a timely collection and one which will be welcomed by many criminologists and criminal justice professionals." (Neil Chakraborti, Director, The Leicester Centre for Hate Studies, UK) "Britain may well be a broadly secular society but the legacy of our religious past pervades many of our criminal laws and the moral assumptions underpinning the operation of criminal justice. Religion, in fact, has not gone away: different forms of faith and religious belief drive both fearful violence and - less visibly - profound efforts at peacemaking and redemption. Crime and punishment is always something that theologians should always reckon with, and criminologists should not ignore the links between faith and agency. This timely book reopens and illuminates a neglected debate and is all the more welcome for that." (Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, University of Strathclyde, UK)

This unique collection brings together international contributors from a range of disciplines to explore crime and responses to crime through a religious/faith-based lens.This unique collection brings together international contributors from a range of disciplines to explore crime and responses to crime through a religious/faith-based lens. At a time when religion is under the media spotlight in terms of religiously-motivated hate crime, terrorism and child abuse this book provides an important platform for academic debate. It examines these and other key issues including: faith as a coping strategy, religion as a motivating factor and the role of religion and morality in shaping criminal justice responses. 
This collection clearly places religion/faith at the heart of criminological enquiry and illustrates its relevance in addressing wider social issues and would be of benefit to students and academics researching or studying in these areas. It will also be of interest to community and criminal justice practitioners and those with an interest in community engagement and multi-faith work.