Deterrence, self-control, morality, religiosity, and criminal motivation: Testing criminological theories in the Turkish cultural context

• In Event: Cross-National Assessments of Criminological Theories

Abstract

Studying Turkish self-reported crime and deviance is important to expand our knowledge on correlates of crime and the general applicability of the major criminological theories in the Turkish cultural context. Turkey has unique family, community, and religious traditions which may enhance our understanding of the relationship between social control, particularly informal control (family, friends, and community) and criminal/deviant behavior. In particular, with a few exceptions, most perceptual studies of deterrence neglected individual level differences in the motivation, attraction, temptation, and contemplation of crime that may influence individual behavior. Using a data set of 600 randomly sampled households in Kayseri, Turkey, the current study examines the effects of perceived formal and informal sanctions, self-control, morality, and religiosity on individual level differences in contemplation and on actual projected criminal and deviant behavior. The findings related to the effects of perceived formal and informal sanctions, self-control, morality, and religiosity on individual propensity to commit crime are discussed.

Author

• Abdullah Cihan, East Carolina University