Understanding the Role of Neighborhood Churches: An Examination of Churches, Drug Values and Drug Offenses

• In Event: The Social and Political Context of Crime, Terrorism, and Violence Reduction

Abstract

Research findings on the role of churches as important neighborhood institutions has been quite mixed. Most of this research has used a very broad brush to examine the impact of churches and has not identified or examined the mechanisms through which institutions, such as the church, are hypothesized to affect crime. In this paper, we provide a more refined examination of the role of churches, specifically in relation to drug crimes. We find that “bridging churches,” particularly within the context of disadvantaged neighborhoods, are related to measures of drug offenses, but these effects are mediated through drug related values and measures of informal social control/collective efficacy. Thus, previous examinations of the relationship between churches and crime may be misleading if they have not accounted for their effects on important mediating variables.

Authors

• Rebecca Headley, Georgia State University

• Barbara D. Warner, Georgia State University