Religion
In reply to the discussion: No Time For Crime: More Religious Communities Have Lower Rates Of Black, White and Latino Violence [View all]Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Does Religion Really Reduce Crime?
Paul Heaton
Journal of Law and Economics , Vol. 49, No. 1 (April 2006), pp. 147-172
Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago and The University of Chicago Law School
Article DOI: 10.1086/501087
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/501087
The author found religious participation had no significant effect on the frequency of property or violent crime; that crime is more likely to affect religiosity than vice versa.
Meanwhile, simple demographics pulled from the US Federal Bureau of Prisons shows atheists, agnostics and unaffiliated believers--who account for 20% of the total population--comprise a paltry 0.07% of the country's incarcerated population.
As I've stated, I am making no inference as to the cause of the disparity, but simple statistics shows religious people are more likely to commit crimes--or at least get themselves arrested, tried and found guilty of crimes--than are the non-religious.