Faith groups spreading the word on the wings |

To get some provocative view of religion, crime and punishment, then this is an article to read: Faith groups spreading the word on the wings. The reason is that Christian faith clearly makes a difference "There are thousands of others like Emmett who 'have found the Lord in prison' and made spectacular breaks with their criminal pasts, the sort of brutal splintering that secular groups working with reoffenders rarely achieve. For the unspoken truth is that, in an increasingly irreligious society, Jesus continues to walk the wings of Britain's prisons, offering salvation to those who have no other chance of saving themselves."

Now on the one hand 'alleluia', on the other there are issues about fairness and equality and also whether the effects are universally benign. "'In probation officers' experience, confronting offending behaviour becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, after the individual has converted,'" -Now that's in relation to one particular group of offenders and one particular religious group but it does indicate that care may be needed. And that alerts us to the issue of which groups are acceptable and which not. Once we ask that question, of course, it becomes difficult not to widen consideration beyond Christian groups. "Certainly other faiths are showing an increasing interest in building up a following among prisoners. Several jails in the UK have entire wings now dominated by Muslim gangs and most have a visiting imam."
And that raises a whole other set of issues as well, but I've not time to go into that now.