Muslim Religiosity and Juvenile Delinquency: A Systematic Review

Abstract

While discussion of religiosity and delinquency has garnered attention in the past few decades, few studies have focused on how religiosity influences rates of delinquency among Muslim adolescents. In this systematic review, keywords were used to cull pertinent articles from two major databases (Scopus and EBSCOhost). In total, 15 articles were identified based on several inclusion criteria. In general, the studies selected showed that Muslim adolescents have a lower rate of delinquency compared to non-Muslim adolescents. However, when questions related to the measurement of delinquency (such as including violence) and the cultural context (such as including individuals who are first-generation immigrants of a non-Muslim-majority country) are taken into consideration, more complex trends are observed. Furthermore, many identified articles did not capture the essence of Muslim religiosity as conceptualized by some Muslim researchers, which has specific and unique properties that must be considered. This study demonstrates how Muslim religiosity protects against delinquency and has a potential use for intervention with Muslim adolescents.

Risk and Protective Factors of Juvenile Delinquency among Youth Exposed to Political Conflict: The Role of Social Resistance

“…As for the other risk and protective factors included in our model, our results revealed that in accordance with previous research (Chan 2019;Khoury-Kassabri et al 2019;Mohammad and Banse 2023;Swisher and Shaw-Smith 2015;Zhang et al 2014;Zhao et al 2023), high impulsivity and arrest of a family member are associated with higher levels of juvenile delinquency. Likewise, religiosity (relationship with God), parental attachment, attachment to the neighbourhood, employment and married parents all predict lower levels of juvenile delinquency.…”

“…Juvenile delinquency has received widespread attention in the literature over the years (Loeber and Farrington 2012;Moffitt 1993;Mohammad and Banse 2023;Orlando and Farrington 2021;Thompson and Bynum 2016). This phenomenon bears severe psychological, physical and social harms, which could manifest themselves in the long term, such as developing a criminal career (Khoury-Kassabri et al 2010;Loeber and Farrington 2012).…”

“…Specifically, numerous studies have examined the risk and protective factors of involvement in juvenile delinquency (Orlando and Farrington 2021; Zhao, Ren, and Chen 2023). For instance, parental attachment (Lee, Moon, and Garcia 2020) and religious orientation (Mohammad and Banse 2023) have been identified as associated with lower levels of juvenile delinquency, while high impulsivity (Geerlings et al 2020) and low socio-economic status (Shong, Abu Bakar, and Islam 2019) predict more involvement in this type of behaviour. However, alongside this extensive research, one major gap remains – the antecedents of juvenile delinquency in the unique context of political conflict, i.e.…”

“…Likewise, positive attitudes towards the school and neighbourhood have found to be negatively related to delinquent behaviour (Liu and Miller 2020; Zhang et al 2014). Finally, involvement in normative activities such as religious practices and work has predicted lower levels of juvenile delinquency (Chan 2019; Mohammad and Banse 2023).…”