Women’s Engagement with Humanist, Spiritual and Religious Meaning-Making in Prison: A Longitudinal Study of Its Impact on Recidivism
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2018, Vol 9, Issue 6
Abstract
This study explores the long-term impact on recidivism of the engagement of over 300 women prisoners with humanist, spiritual and religious ways of making meaning during their incarceration. Prison chaplains and community volunteers in the Oregon Department of Corrections offered a diverse range of humanist, spiritual and religious (HSR) events to the women, and 95% of them voluntarily engaged at varied levels with an average participation rate of about 3 h per month. The women who attended most often were motivated to do so by intrinsic or meaning-driven reasons and were more likely to have listened to a religious program on radio or TV in the six months before their incarceration. Controlling for ethnicity, risk of recidivism, participation in other programs (education, substance use, cognitive and work), length of time incarcerated, and infractions during incarceration we found an overall significantly positive impact of HSR involvement on recidivism during the first year after release and over a 13-year follow-up period post prison. The impact was concentrated among the 20% of women who attended most frequently (4 or more hours per month) indicating a dosage and consistency of practice effect. Prison chaplains and volunteers make a valuable contribution to the lives of women in prison and to the correctional system; the pro-social support/modeling and diverse help with meaning-making they offer in prison has a positive influence on the women’s journey of desistance in the community after prison.
Authors and Affiliations
Jeff Duncan, Richard Stansfield, Steve Hall and Tom O’Connor
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26032
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9060171
- Views 315
- Downloads 12
America’s “Peculiar Children”: Authority and Christian Nationalism at Antebellum West Point
This essay examines how the United States Military Academy at West Point developed an explicitly “federal” Christianity to help train the antebellum officers of the United States Army. It begins by examining how the Ep...
Brazilian Validation of the Brief Scale for Spiritual/Religious Coping—SRCOPE-14
The concept of spiritual-religious coping gained attention in Brazil with the adaptation and validation of the RCOPE Scale (Panzini 2004; long version: 87 items and brief version: 49 items). The Brief RCOPE still conta...
Namaste Theory: A Quantitative Grounded Theory on Religion and Spirituality in Mental Health Treatment
A growing body of research is beginning to identify characteristics that influence or are related to helping professionals’ integration of clients’ religion and spirituality (RS) in mental health treatment. This articl...
Reincarnation: Mechanics, Narratives, and Implications
This essay explores the mechanics associated with rebirth, noting differences between Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain narratives. It examines the concept of subtle body and the lingam in ˙ Sa¯m . khya. According to the Hind...
Lamòling Bèaka: Immanence, Rituals, and Sacred Objects in an Unwritten Legend in Alor
This paper recounts a parallel story of the Lamòling myth. The original analysis of the legend addressed the relationship between two gods, Lamòling and Lahatàla, from the Abui traditional religion. The myth evolved fr...