Moral Communities and Jailhouse Religion: Religiosity and Prison Misconduct

Moral Communities and Jailhouse Religion: Religiosity and Prison Misconduct
Benjamin Meade
September 2014

ISBN-13:  978-1-59332-758-3 / Hardcover
Dimensions:  5.5 x 8.5 / viii, 244 pages

Price   $75.00

Description

Meade examines the relationship between religiosity and inmate misconduct. The most important aspect of his work is an attempt to resolve unanswered questions in the existing research about the religiosity-inmate misconduct relationship using a national sample of inmates and rigorous statistical techniques. His basic thesis is that the mixed findings across studies may be attributed to issues concerning selection bias and/or contextual differences in religiosity across facilities. The findings from the studies indicate that selection bias could result in an underestimation of the magnitude of the religiosity-misconduct relationship, but the results fail to support the impact of contextual religiosity effects on misconduct.

About the Author

Benjamin Meade received his Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. His research interests are in institutional corrections and inmate behavior, as well the influence of religion/religiosity on deviance. He resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia and currently is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies at James Madison University.