Crime and Religion

ARDA LEARNING RESOURCES

Crime and Religion

Crime and Religion

Many authors have written on the relationships between religion, crime, and deviance. Does religion prevent individuals from committing crimes? How does religion shape people’s perceptions of crime and deviance? How does religion affect views on punishments for crimes? These are the types of questions other sociologists have asked, and these are the type of questions you will explore in the following learning module.

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) allows you to find and analyze empirical data from many sources concerning religion and other sociological topics.

Begin by opening your web browser and going to the homepage for the Association of Religion Data Archives (

First, let’s look at some maps showing the distribution of crime rates in the United States. Find the most recent map for “Murders per 100,000” in the U.S. Maps section of the ARDA website. (Hint: Look under the U.S. Congregational Membership tab.) For assistance locating and navigating maps on the ARDA, click here.

1. Let’s look at a map of murder rates in the United States. Which state has the highest murder rate?

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2. How many murders per 100,000 people did this state have in 2007?

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3. Generally speaking, which region of the United States has the highest rates of murder?

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Ok, let’s compare some different maps on crime and religion. Below the map you just made, you will see an option to add a second map.

Let’s compare the map that you just looked at with a measure of major religious groups, such as the rates of adherence to Evangelical Protestant denominations.

4. Which state has the highest rate of adherence to Evangelical denominations?

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5. How many people per 1,000 are adherents to an Evangelical denomination in this state?

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6. Now, compare the “rank tables” for the murder rate map and the Evangelical map. List the states that are in both the top ten murder rates and the top ten for Evangelical adherents:

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7. Does there seem to be any overlap between these two maps? If so, what do you think about the relationship between murders and Evangelicals? Is there a real relationship here, or is something else going on?

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We have looked at some maps of state-level data on crime and religion, but we have not looked at individuals’ perceptions of crime based on their religious orientations.

Fortunately, the ARDA also allows us to explore individual level data.

Let’s use the General Social Survey from 2016 (Inapplicable Responses Coded as Missing) to analyze individuals’ attitudes towards crime. Click here for assistance finding a particular data file on the ARDA and for assistance locating a particular variable in a dataset.

8. How do you think church attendance affects an individual’s view of the death penalty? Write your hypothesis below:

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Now we can see if your hypothesis is supported by the data. Click on the grey “Search” taband look for “death penalty.” You should have found one variable (CAPPUN). Click on the name of this variable.

9. What percent of the respondents favor the death penalty?

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Let’s look at this variable in some more detail. Click the “Analyze results” link below the question.

10. Of those who attend church less than once a year, what percent support the death penalty?

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11. Of those who attend church one or more times a week, what percent support the death penalty?

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12. Was your hypothesis supported by the data?

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13. Now that you have used the website, you can explore some data on your own. Either find two maps that seem to have an interesting overlap (or one that you think should have an overlap but does not) or find a question in a dataset that has an interesting relationship with a religion variable such as affiliation or attendance. Feel free to explore and use a dataset other than the General Social Survey, but find a map or table related to crime and religion. (Hint: Use the search feature at the top of the page to help find possible variables\datasets.)

Dataset or maps that you are using:

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14. If you are analyzing a question, what is the wording of this question?

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15. Explain what this map or table shows about the relationship between crime and religion and why you thought it was interesting:

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