Religiosity’s Relationship to Violent Crime Intentions: Examining the Question of Spuriousness and the Type-of-Crime Hypothesis Among Incarcerated Men

Some scholars have questioned whether religiosity’s sometimes small or non-significant relationship to crime reflects potential spuriousness with one’s overall level of social bonding, or of levels of cognitive under-arousal (manifested in traits such as impulsivity, sensation seeking, and proneness to boredom), or potential mediated effects of religiosity (operating indirectly through factors like social bonds or self-control). Likewise, some have suggested that religiosity may only influence less serious or victimless crimes (the Type of Crime hypothesis). Few studies have examined these questions among those who have committed serious crimes. Utilizing data from a large sample of incarcerated men, we examined religiosity’s relation to intentions to engage in two assaultive behaviors, controlling for other social bond elements, and levels of self-control. Results support the negative relationship between religiosity and aggravated assault intentions, and this relationship maintained in the face of other social controls, but not self-control. Religiosity was not related to simple assault intentions. We discuss the implications of these results as they relate religiosity’s role in constraining crime, even among those who have already engaged in serious offenses, as well as limitations of our study.