A Spatial Study of the Effectiveness of Faith Based Organizations on Community Correction

• In Event: Faith and Finances: How Local Institutions like Churches and Banks Matter

Abstract

The principal objective of this paper is to assess the implication of the location of faith based organizations and criminal offending using geospatial methods. Problem oriented approaches to social control emphasizes the significance of community input to law enforcement. Purposive reform and rehabilitative activities by communities and faith based organizations have been linked with a decrease in the rates of recidivism amongst prison inmates. Nevertheless, attempts to see the impact of these systems on crime rate in the wider community remains inconclusive. By this spatial analysis, we hope to examine the assumptions that the activities of these types of organizations have a substantial impact on crime rates.

Authors

• Kingsley Ejiogu, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore

• Ekwuniru Chika Nwokeji, Southern University, New Orleans