Religion, Crime and Punishment: An Evolutionary Perspective

234 Pages·2017·2.81 MB·English

by  Russil Durrant

RELIGION,
CRIME &
PUNISHMENT
An Evolutionary Perspective
RUSSIL DURRANT
& ZOE POPPELWELL
Religion, Crime and Punishment
Russil Durrant • Zoe Poppelwell
Religion, Crime and
Punishment
An Evolutionary Perspective
Russil Durrant Zoe Poppelwell
Institute of Criminology School of Social and Cultural Studies
Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand
ISBN 978-3-319-64427-1 ISBN 978-3-319-64428-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64428-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952555
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Preface
This is a small book on a big topic. Much has been written on the subject
of religion from a diverse range of disciplines, including sociology, psy-
chology, evolutionary biology, political science, and religious studies.
Somewhat surprisingly, as we shall argue, criminologists have had very
little to say on the topic of religion. Our surprise is based on the fact that
religion is intimately bound up with notions of morality: all major reli-
gious traditions provide either explicit or implicit guidelines about the
‘right’ way to live and many people believe that religion plays an impor-
tant role in regulating social behaviour. We might expect, then, for reli-
gion to be a ‘variable of interest’ for criminologists in understanding both
crime, and our responses to crime. Religion also plays a prominent role
in the structuring of social groups and, although the role of religion in
inter-group conflict is much contested, again it is clearly a relevant factor
that should be of interest to those who study war, terrorism, and other
forms of inter-group conflict.
Inevitably the scope of this book means that we will be very much
adopting a bird’s eye view of the topics that we cover, although we will be
zooming in on particular details from time to time. Given the relative
dearth of relevant research on the topic in criminology, we think that this
is a useful approach and we hope that this book will serve both as a review
of the literature on ‘religion and criminology’ as well as a starting point
for further reading and research. One of the main aims of this book,
v
vi Preface
therefore, is to encourage more interest in the topic of religion among
criminologists and others interested in crime, punishment, and inter-
group relations.
We also bring a particular theoretical perspective to bear on the subject
matter. We argue in this book that the key to understanding religion’s
complex relations to both prosocial and antisocial behaviour is to con-
sider the evolutionary origins of religion, and how both genetic and cul-
tural evolutionary forces have shaped religion in ways that influence
various aspects of human behaviour and the development of social insti-
tutions. Although some might be disappointed that we do not afford
more space to some of the seminal thinkers in the field like Durkheim,
Parsons, or Geertz, recent work on the evolution and cognitive science of
religion has yielded a rich theoretical and empirical dividend and we
think that this focus is warranted. Even for readers for whom the evolu-
tionary perspective is unconvincing we hope that much of value can still
be drawn from the material presented and encourage those interested in
these topics to pursue them further.
In the opening chapter we provide a brief, global, snapshot of the
nature and extent of religion in contemporary society. We begin the
chapter with a brief discussion of what we mean by the term ‘religion’
and, while recognising that definitional issues have been a subject of
much scholarly debate, we argue here that although there may be no
‘necessary and sufficient’ conditions as to what counts as a religion we can
still identify a suite of beliefs and practices that form the basis for the
diverse range of activities and beliefs that people consider ‘religious’.
Arguably criminology (and other social sciences) have somewhat
neglected the role of religion in understanding crime and punishment,
but we make a case that the centrality of religion in many people’s lives
and its close relationship with notions of morality make it a topic that
deserves more prominence among criminologists.
The ubiquity of religion (broadly defined) cross-culturally and histori-
cally, and its importance in human social life, has suggested to many
scholars that religion and religious behaviour may have an evolutionary
basis. In the last decade there has been a substantial amount of work in
this area and, although there remains a lively debate regarding the evolu-
tionary origins of religion, there is something like an emerging consensus
Prefac e vii
that humans, by virtue of their evolved cognitive capacities and biases,
‘naturally’ gravitate towards religious beliefs, ideas, and practices. Recent
work by Norenzayan and colleagues (Norenzayan, 2013; Norenzayan
et al., 2016) suggests that cultural evolutionary processes have operated
to favour constellations of specific religious beliefs and practices because
of their capacity to promote large-scale cooperation. In this chapter we
will provide a critical overview of the literature on the evolution of reli-
gion focussing both on the biological and cultural underpinnings of reli-
gious behaviour and how religion has come to play a central role in the
social life of most human societies. This chapter provides the key theo-
retical background for our analyses in subsequent chapters on how reli-
gion is related to crime, prosocial behaviour, punishment, and inter-group
conflict.
In a landmark piece of criminological research, Hirschi and Stark
(1969) concluded that religion was ‘irrelevant to delinquency’. This—to
many, somewhat surprising—conclusion has since been challenged by a
scattered but reasonably extensive literature that generally finds that reli-
gious involvement is negatively related to delinquency and criminal
behaviour (Johnson & Jang, 2012). A parallel body of research, largely
carried out by psychologists, supports the idea that there is a positive
relationship between religiosity and prosocial behaviour. In this chapter
we first provide a review of these literatures while highlighting some of
the inconsistences and methodological problems that have been found in
the relevant research. Drawing on the material provided in the previous
chapter we then outline how an evolutionary approach can be integrated
with mainstream criminological theories that focus on more proximate
mechanisms to explain the pattern of findings that have been obtained.
Specifically, a model is provided that demonstrates how the effect of reli-
gion on crime and prosociality is variously mediated by self-control,
social-bonding, the reduction of strain, and (supernatural) deterrence. By
integrating distal (evolutionary) with proximate explanations we argue
that a richer understanding of the relationship between religion, crime,
and prosocial behaviour can be obtained.
The idea that religion often plays an integral part in inter-group con-
flicts is well entrenched in the minds of scholars, policy-makers, and the
public alike. However, the nature of the relationship between religion
viii Preface
and different forms of inter-group conflict such as war, terrorism, and
genocide remains a matter of some debate: some have argued that reli-
gion plays a pivotal role in many such conflicts, whereas others have sug-
gested that the role of religion has been substantially overstated. In this
chapter we review the literature that has focused on the ‘dark side’ of
religion and its putative relationship with prejudice, inter-group conflict
(including terrorism), and war. We draw on the evolutionary approach to
understanding religion provided in Chap. 2 to argue that there are both
direct and indirect pathways that can account for the relationship between
religion and inter-group conflict. Religion can play a direct role in foster-
ing (or exacerbating) inter-group conflict when specific religious beliefs,
and the way that these are articulated by religious leaders, provide sup-
port for violence directed at other groups. Perhaps more importantly,
religion can also play a more indirect role in collective violence through
the promotion of within-group cohesion and cooperation which, in some
contexts, can be manifested as inter-group violence. In many respects, the
mechanisms that can promote prosociality among in-groups can—under
certain circumstances—contribute to out-group aggression and
violence.
The relationship between religion, punishment, and the legal system is
complex. A relatively small body of empirical research, mostly conducted
in the USA, has examined the relationship between religiosity and atti-
tudes towards punishment, particularly the death penalty (Unnever &
Cullen, 2006). Religion has historically also played a key role in the
development of legal systems in a range of different cultural contexts. In
this chapter, an evolutionary approach is employed to help us understand
the role that religion plays in both delineating what acts count as morally
wrong and hence are potentially subject to criminal sanctions, and how
such violations should be dealt with. In particular, following Haidt
(2012), we suggest that religion plays a particularly prominent role in
defining acts that violate notions of purity and sanctity especially those
that relate to sexual behaviour. Because religion functions to bind indi-
viduals into large, cooperative moral communities it also can play a key
role in regulating a range of behavioural acts that might be viewed as
threatening social cohesiveness even though they might not result in any
obvious harm to others.
Prefac e ix
In the final chapter we consider the role that religion might play in the
rehabilitation of offenders and peace-making processes. Central to these
two endeavours is the idea of forgiveness, and moral repair. Arguably,
humans have evolved a capacity for forgiveness alongside our tendency to
seek revenge and retribution. The notion of forgiveness, repentance, and
redemption also feature prominently in many religious traditions. These
points suggest that religion might have a role to play in the rehabilitation
of offenders and their successful reintegration into society. Faith-based
correctional services have historically played a prominent role in the prison
systems of many countries and there is enough evidence to suggest that
they are promising strategies that can be employed alongside (or embed-
ded in) more mainstream approaches. Religion and religious leaders have
also played a prominent role in many peace-making efforts, although
many have questioned the place of religion in these endeavours.
Religion appears here to stay. The complex and varied systems that we
think of as ‘religion’ owe their existence to the way that evolutionary pro-
cesses have shaped the nature of the human mind, and have been further
shaped by thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of years of cultural evo-
lution. Importantly, religion serves crucial functions in society: it helps to
bind individuals into morally cohesive communities through ritual, it
demarcates the normative boundaries of behaviour, and it provides a
form of ‘supernatural’ policing to promote cooperation, especially among
co-religionists. In all of these ways, religion intertwines with the secular
concerns of criminologists—crime, punishment, conflict, and the law.
It remains to thank the Editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan for their
encouragement and support in this project. We also highlight the sup-
portive atmosphere provided by the School of Social and Cultural Studies
at Victoria University of Wellington that has provided us with the time
and resources to complete this book. Thanks also to Molly Weenick who
provided research assistant work on Chap. 6 by reviewing the literature
on faith-based rehabilitation programmes. On a personal note, we thank
Carolina, Gabrielle, Mavis, Bea, and Leo.
Wellington, New Zealand Russil Durrant
2017 Zoe Poppelwell
x Preface
References
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Johnson, B. R., & Jang, S. J. (2012). Crime and religion: Assessing the
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