Spiritual Criminology: The Case of Jewish Criminology

Abstract

Throughout the ages and in most cultures, spiritual and religious thinking have dealt extensively with offending (person against person and person against the Divine), the response to offending, and rehabilitation of offenders. Although modern criminology has generally overlooked that body of knowledge and experience, the study of spirituality and its relation to criminology is currently growing. Frequently, though, it is conducted from the secular scientific perspective, thus reducing spiritual knowledge into what is already known. Our aim here is to present a complementary perspective; that is, spiritual criminology that emerges from the spiritual perspective. Following a description of the state-of-the-art in criminological research concerning spirituality and its impact upon individuals, we focus on Jewish criminology as an illustrative case study, and present a spiritual Jewish view on good and evil, including factors that lead to criminality, the issue of free choice, the aim of punishment and societal response, crime desistance, rehabilitation, and prevention. The proposed establishment of spiritual criminology can be further developed by including parallel schools of spirituality, to create an integrated field in criminology.

Can Yoga Overcome Criminality? The Impact of Yoga on Recidivism in Israeli Prisons

“…Studies have shown that the inmate population typically exhibits many disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, and impulsiveness) along with risky behaviors at higher rates as compared with in the normative population (Auty et al, 2015;Muirhead & Fortune, 2016). Yoga addresses many of these problems and can therefore serve as both a complementary factor and possibly a positive alternative to the existing rehabilitation programs (Auty et al, 2015;Muirhead & Fortune, 2016;Ronel & Ben Yair, 2018;Wimberly & Xue, 2016).…”

Faith-Based Intervention: Prison, Prayer, and Perseverance

“…However, it is important to acknowledge some of the challenges which relate to defining the key terms of this study. According to Ronel and Yair (2017), religion usually refers to a social institute of beliefs, knowledge, norms, rules, customs, and rites. They further state that "religion in general, and spirituality both represent human faith in the Supreme and a quest for ultimate meaning" (2017, p. 2).…”

Can Yoga Overcome Criminality? The Impact of Yoga on Recidivism in Israeli Prisons

“…Moreover, from the perspective of positive criminology, yoga has had several rehabilitative advantages manifest, inter alia, in the development of interpersonal integration, understanding and interpreting daily occurrences from a spiritual outlook, and embracing humane and prosocial views and norms, all of which may assist offenders through their rehabilitation process (Ronel & Ben Yair, 2018).…”

“…Studies have shown that the inmate population typically exhibits many disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, impulsiveness) along with risky behaviors at higher rates as compared with in the normative population (Auty et al, 2015; Muirhead & Fortune, 2016). Yoga addresses many of these problems and can, therefore, serve as both a complementary factor and possibly a positive alternative to the existing rehabilitation programs (Auty et al, 2015; Muirhead & Fortune, 2016; Ronel & Ben Yair, 2018; Wimberly & Xue, 2016).…”