"Revitalizing the Hood”: Religious Institutions, Neighborhood Revitalization, and Crime Control in an Immigrant Ethnic Enclave Community

• In Event: Religious Identification, Institutions, and Civil Society

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the ways in which religious institutions influence crime and delinquency in one of the largest Arab ethnic enclave communities in the northeastern United States. Data were collected through participant observation and in-depth interviews with first- and second-generation Arab immigrants (N=91) who lived in this ethnic enclave community. Participants were asked about their immigration experience, as well as their community and neighborhood life. Overall, the findings reveal the pivotal role religious institutions and local Islamic Centers played in both the social organization and revitalization of the disadvantaged neighborhoods in which participants lived. In essence, this study aims to highlight the importance of considering factors such as immigrants’ religion and religious institutions – and especially mosques and Islamic Centers – in revitalizing and controlling crime within poor, urban contexts. The results of this study extend a small but growing body of criminological research related to the immigrant revitalization perspective, which postulates that a high concentration of immigrants serves a protective function and buffers against crime and delinquency in immigrant communities.

Author

• Amarat Zaatut, Temple University