Pray Away the Criminal? Crime, Religiosity and Sexual Minority Status

• In Event: Correlates of LGBTQ Populations’ Offending and Victimization

Abstract

The relationship between religion and crime has long been contested, with no clear consensus. The most recent research has found the relationship may vary by individual attributes. In this study, we test the relationship between religiosity and criminality by exploring an underexamined population in criminology: sexual minority youth and adults. We examine the effect of religiosity for sexual minority and majority respondents for property crimes, violent crimes, and selling drugs. We find that religiosity, while acting as a protective factor for sexual majority individuals, is a risk factor for offending for sexual minority respondents. This furthers criminological understandings of religiosity, comporting with other research on its varying effects.

Authors

• Meredith Conover-Williams, Humboldt State University

• Joice Chang, Humboldt State University