I would say that having a supportive community is likely to be a big factor. Although many religions include a strong community aspect, this is not something that is exclusive to religious groups.

Those who are not religious may be encouraged to conform to better standards by a supportive social, sporting, cultural or general interest group.

Disclaimer: Note that this suggestion is based on my observation only and I haven’t investigated the research which may or may not back up my speculation.

Posted: October 3rd 2009

See all questions answered by Eshu

I’m no psychologist either, so all I have are hypotheses based on what I’ve read. One thing that strikes me as immediately relevant is the way religion can add structure and purpose, to a prisoner’s life, that was absent before. In prisons Islam, with its multiple daily prayers and rituals, also provides entry to the Nation Of Islam, a Black Muslim supremacist organisation that tells those men how superior they are to everyone else, forgiving the transgressions that put them in prison in the first place.

Are there secular methods of providing a criminal with structure to his or her life, and worthwhile goals? Of course there are, the most obvious being education. In many cases, it was a lack of employment qualifications that led to crime, but there are opportunities for self-education in prison and after parole. Prison authorities in the USA even look at a prisoner’s education when deciding whether that prisoner should go to high security confinement (link), implying that they view the attainment of qualifications as making a person less of a threat to other prisoners.

In other words: the long-term goal is not to replace a religion with some secular equivalent, but to realize that the religion was unnecessary all along, and that people can and do live successful lives without it. There is strong evidence (e.g. this) that a good education serves to keep people out of prison, and helps to rehabilitate them if they do end up in prison. There are also reports from states like California that show what happens when prisons do not offer adequate educational opportunities to their inmates.

Posted: August 24th 2009

See all questions answered by brian thomson

First point: the possible benefits of faith do not give credence to the objects of that faith. Belief in other gods can have the same effect in other countries, and it doesn’t make those gods real either.

To your actual question: there are ways to improve behaviour besides the threat of eternal punishment. Not every successful rehabilitation is the result of a religious conversion or revival. I don’t doubt that some do happen that way, though an actual statistic would be nice to discover after a bit of research and it sure ain’t 100%.

I do know a prison psychologist, but I’m not one myself and I don’t know how rehabilitation works. Whatever programs and techniques have proved themselves in the field are currently being applied to the prison population, and I suggest you look them up.

The correctional staff of our prisons aren’t counting on the killers and rapists they guard to be “born again” en masse. The good ones are taking responsibility and doing the hard human work of understanding what makes these people tick. In some happy cases they turn them around.

Posted: August 24th 2009

See all questions answered by SmartLX