Religious life in convicts: A psychological approach (Mersin sample)

Both religion and crime are old and important concepts that was working with many different perspectives from the beginning of the social sciences by social scientists. However, relationship of religion and religiosity and crime are attracting the attention of social scientists in western countries for a long time. In this context, the most important questions is that of religiosity inhibit crime. Also, the religiosity of criminals is one of the issues to be curious. The studies on this subject have found different results in western countries, however a general consensus today is that there is a negative relationship between crime and religiosity. There are few studies about the relationship between crime and religion in our country. Therefore, in this study religiosity of criminals is investigated. Research was conducted on 180 people convicted of various crimes in Mersin E Type Closed and Open Prison. The results Show that the level of religiosity of the convicts differs according to their type of crime, age, marital status, penal time, recidivism, subjective religiosity, families religiosity and peer religiosity. Results were discussed in light of relevant theories. Keywords: Religion, Religiosity, Crime, Prison, Convicts