Religion and Criminal Behavior

This assignment delves into the multifaceted relationship between religion and criminal behavior. It analyzes theoretical perspectives on how religious beliefs may influence an individual's propensity for crime, as well as empirical research findings that shed light on this complex connection. The provided bibliography includes scholarly articles, books, and reports that offer diverse viewpoints on this intriguing topic.

Running head: SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Sociological and theological study of criminals
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Acknowledgement
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my professor without whose, constant
support and guidance, the research would not have been possible.
Firstly, I would like to thank God the Almighty in giving me the strength and courage
without which I could not have completed the entire study. Secondly, I would like to thank
my family and relatives who gave me constant support mentally and physically so that I can
complete the study on time. Lastly, I would like to give thanks to my peers and the friends
who have helped me in providing the appropriate information throughout the project and
helped me in doing the in-depth analysis of the research. Without their proper guidance, it is
impossible for me to complete the project.
Thanks and Regards,

2SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................7
1.0 overview...........................................................................................................................7
Sociological aspect of crime..................................................................................................8
Sociological issues in the study of crime and criminals........................................................9
How sociology does see crime and deviance.......................................................................11
Crime and medieval punishment..........................................................................................13
1.1 Background....................................................................................................................31
Slavery society in Mauritius.................................................................................................34
1.2 Problem Statement.........................................................................................................39
1.3 Justification for the project.............................................................................................40
1.4 Description of the Project Process.................................................................................41
1.5 Expectations from this Project.......................................................................................41
1.6 Hypothesis......................................................................................................................42
Chapter 2..................................................................................................................................42
Literature Review.................................................................................................................42
The Mothers’ Union of the Anglican Diocese is also involved “ Outgate”.........................48
Sociology and criminal justice.............................................................................................55
Evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior.....................................................................67

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Theories of Slavery..............................................................................................................91
Theories and causes of crime...............................................................................................94
Biological theories...............................................................................................................95
Sociological theories............................................................................................................96
Difference between deviance and crime................................................................................101
Sociology and criminal justice...............................................................................................106
Evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior...................................................................113
Conservative ideology of crimes and criminal justice.......................................................115
Crime and political ideology..............................................................................................116
The law and order play out in racial terms.........................................................................119
Ideological contradictions in law and order policies..........................................................120
Rethinking God, Justice and the treatment of the offenders..............................................123
Concepts of god and retributive justice..............................................................................124
Criminal justice and Christian forgiveness........................................................................126
Crime and religion..............................................................................................................126
Summary............................................................................................................................127
Chapter 3: Methodology........................................................................................................136
3.1 A social theory application pertaining device..............................................................136
3.2 A qualitative and empirical study................................................................................139
Interview with detainees:.......................................................................................................140
Interview with the prison officers:.........................................................................................141

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Interview with churches engaged in prison ministry: the interview has been conducted with
the president of the church:....................................................................................................142
Interview with ex-detainees:..................................................................................................144
Chapter 4................................................................................................................................149
4.1 Survey on Penal Institutions and Judicial in Mauritius................................................149
Prisoners in Mauritius............................................................................................................150
4.2 Law and Rehabilitation of Prisoners................................................................................152
Chapter 5:...............................................................................................................................155
Prisons and prisoners in the Bible..........................................................................................155
5.1: Prisons and Prisoners in the Old Testament................................................................158
5.2: Prisons and Prisoners in the New Testament..............................................................161
Chapter 6. Responses of the Church towards Prisoners in Mauritius...................................174
6.1. Recent Past Involvement of Churches.......................................................................174
6.2. Anglican Engagement.................................................................................................179
6.3. Prison Fellowship Mauritius Engagement..................................................................183
Chapter 7................................................................................................................................190
Theological framework for prison ministry.......................................................................190
Chapter 8................................................................................................................................191
Adequacies and inadequacies.............................................................................................191
8.1 Recommendation..........................................................................................................193
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................194
References and bibliography..................................................................................................196

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6SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 overview
Crime and religion had a relationship between them. The history is the greatest
witness of this. The church sympathizes with the prisoners. Christianity believes that the
criminals are not aware that they are committing a crime. This is the reason they should be
forgiven and given a chance to improve themselves. Society is the place where all types of
human beings live together. The harmful as well as the useful people live together. Church is
an important part of the society. The church and society acts as a protector of the individuals
dwelling in the society. The treatment of the criminals is not same everywhere and at every
age. In the historic time the treatment of the criminals were seen as a different part of the
society. They were kept separate in a cell away from their near ones. They were treated in a
completely different manner from the society. In the recent times the criminals are kept not in
a cell but in the correctional homes. The dissertation concentrates on the fact that the church
played a major role in the rehabilitation of the prisoners. The treatment of the offenders in the
historical times were influenced and manipulated by the religious persons and the religious
institutions1. The establishment of the concept of prison was considered to be a religious idea.
The jails witnessed the religious programs and the religious programs intended to convert the
criminals from being isolated. The practice and the influence of religion on the prisons can be
traced back in the historical times. The church acted as the counselor of the prisoners and it
took responsibility of correcting the prisoners and makes them better citizens of the society.
This system was introduced by the religious men who themselves were imprisoned at some
1 Farrall, Stephen, ed. The termination of criminal careers. Routledge, 2017.

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point of time2. This reminds of the instance where Jesus Christ himself was himself was
imprisoned and he asked every human being to forgive other human beings. In bible it is
mentioned that God has asked to forgive the trespassers. The bible contains a line where it
has been mentioned, ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’. The sinners
must be pardoned; this was preached by the religious institutions and the testament. The
stories of Joseph and Jeremiah should not be forgotten in this context. The suffering of
Joseph and Jeremiah has a broad mention in the Old Testament as well as the New
Testament. In the early historic period that is from the days of the Constantine the early
Christian Church settled asylum for the criminals in order to save them from getting killed or
getting mutilated. This system prolonged for a longer period of time. This system prevailed
for a longer period of time till the fifteenth century. The church was found to release the
prisoners during the Easter time and the church took the complete responsibility to reduce
and in some case even pardon the offenders. This system prevailed for centuries and some
amount of modifications was made in the system.
Sociological aspect of crime
The study of sociological aspect of crime is marked by many controversies that are
linked with many definitional issues. It is generally known that the crimes are those events
and are actions that are considered under the law of a particular country. It is however a
matter of fact that the laws keeps on changing and it is different in different countries. The
person who studies crime, argue that the crime should be defined as something which is
harmful.
2 Robertson, Geoffrey. Crimes against humanity: The struggle for global justice. The New
Press, 2013.

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Sociological issues in the study of crime and criminals
This can be divided into few broad categories like the sociology of law, the
conceptual issues, the measurement issues, and the social distribution of crime and the
explanations of crime and finally the issues related to the control of the crime.
The sociology of law focuses on the foundation of the legal orders or the patterns of
the legal change. It further focuses on the role of law in the social life. The behavior of the
criminals varies from time to time and from place to place. The societal context plays a vital
role in influencing a change in the law. The sociology of law brings forth the term called
legal ferment. It is the changes in the matters of the status of the females, the status of the
young, the changing status of the racial and the ethnic minorities and the homosexuals. It
focuses on the understanding of how and why such changes occur are major challenges to
sociologists of law. Conflict and the Marxist theories of crime draw much of their support
from evidence that status inequalities bias law making and enforcement against the less
powerful. The effects of legal sanctions on offenders and on those who might offend is also
of interest to theorists of crime and policymakers alike.
The crime consists of a large number of varied criminal acts. There is no single index
that can capture the nature of the same. The crime control agencies and the scholars are
therefore finding it compulsory to reduce the crime into more homogeneous categories. The
way the categories are related is another important factor for the understanding of controlling
the crime. The official crime counting systems are designed to accomplish the institutional
purposes which includes the documenting the police or activities of the court. This justifies
the request of the budget and the evaluation of the institutional performance. They reflect the
laws and the practices of the jurisdictions with which they are associated. The data on the
crimes and the criminals are correspondingly affected. A large amount of effort has gone into

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the standardizing the definitions and reporting the systems in order to enhance their
comparability and the research usefulness.
The basic data for the sociological explanations of crime rest heavily on the way the
crime is committed and how they are distributed among the social categories like the age, the
gender, the social class and the ethnic status. It depends on time and on the differing social
and cultural circumstances. It has been seen in the social distribution and in the explanation
of the crime that the most ordinary crimes are committed by the young males in the modern
world. It is more concentrated on those who belong to economically lower class or the
deprived ones. The exception in this case is the, ‘white collar crimes’. This is found to be
committed by the persons belonging to comparatively higher status. Later they focused on the
violations of fiduciary responsibility or the public trust. The sociologists have made large
efforts to find the efforts of controlling the crimes and to study the intensity of the crime. The
primary data that the scholars have employed are the rates of the crimes and the distribution
of the same among different groups and different organizations, communities and other
political units. The sociologists who study the individual level of explanation focus on the
influence of the social and the cultural factors. It consists of the social interactions and the
individual learning experiences. It was in the late twentieth century that the lines between the
disciplines were clearly drawn and those were controversial. There was a third level of
explanation offered which stated that the criminal activities of the criminals were the function
and the characteristic of the situations.
There are certain issues that are related to crime. The effects of the law, the law
enforcements and the imposition of the legal sanctions on the offenders and on others are the
major sociological concerns. The public concerns have increased with the increasing rate of
crimes during the latter half of the twentieth century.

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How sociology does see crime and deviance
The sociologists who study crime and deviance examine the cultural norms and the
way they change over time and the way they are enforced. The study is carried forward by
analyzing the consequences that occurred when the norms are broken. The act of deviance
varies among different societies and the social norms are different in different societies. The
sociologists continue their extended research in the reason of the differences that exist and
how they leave an impact on the individuals and the groups in those areas. The sociologists
define deviance as behavior that is recognized as violation of the expected norms and rules. It
is more than nonconformity. It is termed as a behavior that is away from any kind of social
expectations. The social context is stressed upon more than the individual behavior. In such
case deviance is looked in the form of group processes. The sociologists also recognize that
all the behavior is judged similarly by all other groups. It can be termed that what appear
deviant to one group might not sound deviant to another group. Further the sociologists
consider that the established norms and rules are socially created. It is not just created
morally but it is decided and sometimes even imposed on the individuals. It is a matter of fact
that the deviance lies in the social responses of the groups to behaviors by others and not just
in the individual behavior. The sociologists often use their understanding of the deviance to
examine the ordinary events like tattooing or the piercing done on the body. The eating
disorder is also considered to be a deviance by the sociologists and along with that the intake
of the drugs or alcohol is also considered to be deviance. There are many kinds of questions
that are asked by the sociologists who study the deal of deviance with the social context in
which the behaviors are committed. The best example of this is the conditions under which
suicide is committed. Suicide is not considered to be an acceptable behavior. There are four
theoretical approaches of the same:

11SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Within the sociology of deviance and crime there are four key theoretical perspectives
from which the researchers study the reason people violating the laws and the norms and how
the society reacts to such acts?
Structural strain theory
This theory was developed by the American sociologists named Robert K. Merton
where he suggested that the deviant behaviors was the result of the pressure or the strain that
the individuals go through and what they experience. They experience the strain when they
are not provided with the facilities that they require from the society. It is when they are
unable to get the necessary means to achieve the culturally valued goals. The sociologist
articulated that when the society fails the individuals in this way engage themselves in
deviant or in criminal acts. They do so in order to achieve their individual goals. The
examples of this are the economic success and the attainment of the social status. Some
sociologists approach the study of deviance and crime from a structural functionalist
standpoint. They put forward an argument where they mention that the deviance is a
necessary part of the process by which the social order is achieved and it is maintained. From
this particular standpoint it serves to remind that the deviant behavior opposes the socially
agreed upon rules and regulations, the social norms and taboos. This reinforces their value
and thus social order.
Conflict theory
The theory is used as a theoretical foundation for the sociological study of crime and
deviance. This approach frames the deviant behavior and states crime as the result of social,
political and economic as well as material conflicts in the society. This can be also be
explained the reason why the people resort to the criminal trades. The probable reason for this
is they want to survive in an economically unequal society.

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Labeling theory
This theory serves as an important frame for those who study the difference between
deviance and crime. The sociologists who follow this school of thought argue that there is a
process of labeling by which the deviance comes to be recognized. The societal reaction to
deviant behavior suggests that the social groups actually create deviance by making rules
whose breach constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and
labeling them as outsiders. This theory further suggests that the people engage in the deviant
acts because they have labeled as deviant by society, because of their race, class or the
intersection of the two.
Crime and medieval punishment
In the medieval period it was believed that the only way to maintain the discipline and
decorum in the state was to make sure that the people were scared of the punishments given
for the crimes that were committed by the criminals. The crimes like burglary, robbery,
murders and even stealing were treated with harsh punishments. The most common forms of
punishment were fines, shaming, that is being placed in stocks, mutilation that is cutting off a
part of the body or death were the most common forms of medieval punishment. The legal
system was not that strong in the medieval period. There was no police force or there was no
strict enforcement of the law. All the laws were enforced by the community and by the
society.
The manorial court (trial by jury)
This court dealt with only the serious crimes. It was held at various intervals during a
year. In it all the villagers were supposed to attend the same or else they had to pay fine for
not attending the trial. All men were placed in a group of ten that was called tithing. No
member of each tithing was supposed to break the law. In case a member of a tithing broke

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the law they made sure that the member who broke the law had to go to the court. The Lord’s
Steward was found to be the in charge of the court. The villagers chose the twelve men who
were a part of the jury. The function of the jury was to collect the evidence and to decide
whether the accused was guilty or not. In case the accused was found guilty he or she was
declared to be punished of the medieval punishment.
The king’s court (trial by ordeal)
Serious crimes were heard in the court of the king and it was heard by him. The
accused had to face trial by ordeal to decide whether they were guilty or not guilty.
Ordeal by fire
This punishment was one of the most pathetic punishments. The accuser had to pick
up a red hot iron bar and hold it while they had to walk in three or four places. Their hand
was then bandaged. After approximately three days they were supposed to return to the court
where the bandages were removed. It was believed that if the wound was beginning to heal
they were termed as innocent. In case the reverse happened and the wound did not heal they
were termed as guilty. They deserved punishment in such case.
Ordeal by water
In this the hands and the feet of the accused were tied up tightly. After that they were
thrown into the water. If they floated they were guilty but if they were found to sink they
were termed as innocent.
Ordeal by combat
In this type of ordeal the nobleman would fight with their accuser. Usually they were
fought to death. The winner of the battle was declared to be right.

14SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Apart from the ordeals there were others severe punishments that existed in the
medieval times. The punishments in the medieval times were harsh and they were intolerable
at times. They were barbaric too some extent. Some of them are:
Banishment
It was since the ancient times that forcing an offender to leave his home and go
abroad or to settle in some other region either for a permanent period or for a fixed period of
time.
Bastinado
This included the beating of a person with the soles of their feet or with a stick. The
soles of the feet were vulnerable and they were painful. They were practiced mainly in the
parts of Asia.
Beheading
This is another ancient method of punishment. it would be more merciful to behead
someone with a sword or an axe compared to hanging the person. However this was not the
case all the time. Sometimes several blows were needed to sever the head of the offender. In
countries like England beheading was considered to be such a punishment that was reserved
only for the people who belonged to belonged to higher class.
Birching
This punishment meant the beating of a person across the backside with twigs. It was
initially used as a major punishment for serious crimes but later it was imposed by the courts
for serious offences. This was abolished in Britain for minor crimes in the year 1948.

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However it was still used in the prisons for a longer period of time. According to the data it
was last used in a British prison in the year 1962.
Boiling alive
This was one of the most painful punishments that existed in England where it was
allowed prisoners to be boiled alive. It was found that in the year 1532, a cook named
Richard Roose was boiled alive and in 1542 a woman called Margaret Davy was reportedly
boiled alive.
Branding
This was one of the oldest punishments. This included branding people with red-hot
irons. In Britain it was later abolished.
Breaking on the wheel
This punishment was common in France and Germany. It was however used in other
parts of Europe. The man who was found guilty was tied up to the wheel and the executioner
then used an iron bar or hammer to break each arm and leg in several places. To end the
agony of the man sometimes a blow on the chest or strangulation was practiced. He could
also be left to die of thirst. It was however abolished in the year 1827.
Burning
This is an old method of killing people. During the reign of Queen Mary in the
sixteenth century nearly 300 protestant Christians were burned to death. It was evident that in
the sixteenth and the seventeenth century the witches were hanged and some were even
burned. In the 18th century the women who were found guilty of committing the crime were

16SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
burned. Later burning as a punishment was abolished in Britain. According to the reports a
person sometimes was strangled with a rope first to spare them from the pain.
Cactus needle
The children were punished by using this technique. The needles of the cactus were
pierced inside the skin of the children in case they were found of committing some mistake.
Cane
The teachers were allowed to hit the children in the early century. It was during the
twentieth century that hitting the children by the teachers was abolished. In the early 16th century
the boy were often punished by being hit with birch twigs. In the 19th century hitting boys and
the girls with a bamboo cane became popular. In the beginning of the twentieth century
hitting with the cane was practiced both in the primary and the secondary schools. However
in the late 1960s and the early 1970s the cane was abolished in most primary schools. Later it
was abolished in the both private as well as the government aided schools.
Cangue
This punishment is known as a type of Chinese punishment. In this a wooden board
was locked around the neck of the prisoner. He was tied in such a way that he could not reach
his mouth with is arms and so he could not feed himself or he could not drink without help.
Crank
The crank was a handle and in order to punish the offenders they were made to turn to
handle innumerable times. Usually the prisoner had to turn the handle thousands of times
before he could eat. It was a monotonous work and a hard one. It was found to be abolished
in the British prison.

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Cold shower
It was practiced in the 20th century. It was practiced in some schools where the
children were forced to have a cold shower. This was used as a punishment.
Crucifixion
The condemned man carried the cross beam of the cross to the site of execution. The
arms of the man were tied and sometimes nailed to the crosspiece and that was tied to the
pole or was sometimes nailed to the pole. Under the feet of the persons a wooden block was
placed in order to make sure their weight did not tear their hands from the nails. The feet of
the persons were also nailed to the cross. The offenders were kept thirsty by keeping them
under the hot sun. When they were kept under the hot sun their sweat attracted flies and other
insects towards them. The actual death occurred due to asphyxiation increased the level of
difficulty in breathing of the accused. The death could however take days and sometimes it
might hasten by breaking the legs of the persons. It was banned in the later years in Rome.
Drowning
This method was seldom used as the common method of execution. It was used even
by the Anglo-Saxons as a punishment. In the Middle Ages drowning was sometimes used to
punish the crime of murder. In the 13th century it was clearly declared that if anybody who
committed murder on the ship of the king would be tied up to the body of their victims and he
further would be drowned to death by throwing away in the sea. They would be left to drown
in the sea. During that time the male murders were burnt but the female murderers were tied
to the post in the harbor and they were left to drown while the tide came in. It was not used
on a frequent basis. It was occasionally used in Europe. Jean Baptiste Carrier revived this

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type of punishment and he thought this was the most convenient way of killing large numbers
of people. They were loaded into vessels with trap doors which were then sunk.
Ducking stool
This was a seat on a long wooden arm. The women who were found guilty of being
scolds or gossips were tied to the seat and then were ducked into the local pond or in the local
river. The woman who was last ducked in England suffered this punishment in the year 1809.
Dunce’s cap
This was a different kind of punishment were the children with low ability were
humiliated as they were forced to wear a conical hat with a, ‘D’ on it. The hat was called a
dunce’s cap. This was practiced in the 19th century.
Electric chair
In the late 19th century the people believed that electricity was an effective means to
kill a person. This punishment was first used in USA in the year 1890, where a man named
William Kemmler was executed. This was unfortunate that his death was not quick and that it
took time. However this became a popular method of execution. It was more popular in USA.
The first woman who was executed in the electric chair was Martha Place in the year 1899. It
was a painful punishment and it took away life instantly.
Fines
In this type of punishment the people were forced to pay money for committing the
crime. This was considered to be an obvious method of punishment. In the ancient times this
was considered to be one of the most favored forms of punishment.
Firing squad

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After the guns were accurate enough the firing squads became a common form of
punishment. Firing squads were usually used as a military and not a civilian punishment.
Flogging
This type of punishment reminds us of Jesus Christ where he was flogged before he
was crucified. This is from where flogging as a punishment was introduced. Whipping was a
common punishment that was seen in the middle ages in the British army and British navy.
Though this practice was common it was abolished in the year 1881, both in the army and the
navy. Women were flogged and this was a common practice. In the British prisoners flogging
remained for a longer period of time and it was not abolished till the later years. The men
were flogged for crimes until the year 1948.
Garroting
This was a form of strangulation. It was often carried out by using a metal collar that
was attached to a post that was tightened around the neck of a person. This was once used in
Spain.
Gas chamber
This was first used in USA in the year 1924. The person who is found to be
condemned was strapped to a chair inside a sealed room which is then filled with cyanide
gas. After their death powerful fans remove the gas.
Grampussing
In the days when the ships were sailing a punishment were given for the minor
offences. The punishment was to tie the hands of the sailors above his head and a bucket of

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water down his sleeves. From the times of Napoleon Bonaparte this was called graspussing as
the man made a noise like grampus which is a sea mammal.
Guillotine
The French revolution was the time when guillotine was first used. The other
mechanical devices were used for beheading other people in various parts of Europe. They
were used many centuries before the French Revolution. The idea of guillotine was first
proposed by Joseph- Ignace Guillotine. He proposed a swift and human method of executing
people in France. The French Assembly agreed to the idea in the year 1791 and the first
device that was built by a man named Tobias Schmit with the advice from a surgeon named
Antoine Louis. The first person to be executed by applying the means of guillotine was
Nicolas Jacques Pelletier in the year 1792. This was used on a large level. It was last used in
France in the year 1977. The capital punishment was abolished by the French in the year
1981.
Hanging
This was a common method of punishment. This was a favored form of execution.
Initially the person who was found guilty had to stand on a ladder which was pulled away or
on a cart which was later moved. This was changed in the 18th century. From the 18th century
the person stood on a trapdoor. It was noticed in many occasions that the man who was
hanged broke his neck while he fell but it was until the 19th century that he was usually
strangled by the rope. Later the punishment of hanging was abolished completely.
Hard labor

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The prisoners were sometimes sentenced to hard physical work. Along with it they
could be sentenced to imprisonment. Later the hard labor was abolished in Britain in the year
1948.
Hulks
The prisoners in Britain were sometimes transported to the North American colonies.
This was before the year 1776. In that particular year the British government began to use old
ships as prisons. It was because of the rebel of the colonies. This was called hulks. From the
year 1787 the prisoners were transported to Australia but before transporting them they were
hold in the hulks. The French prisoners of the war were also held in the hulks. The hulks were
abolished in the year 1857.
Inhalation of smoke
This was a weird and not a very common punishment. The naughty children were
sometimes punished by having their head held over a fire that would contain chilies and they
were forced to inhale the smoke. This was a torturous punishment especially for the children.
This was painful for them and some even died in the course of the punishment.
Jougs
This was an old Scottish punishment. This included a metal collar that was secured to
a wall with a chain and the same was fastened around the neck of the criminals.
Keel hauling
Keel hauling was first recorded in the fifteenth century. In the Dutch navy keel
hauling meant the dropping a man into the sea and the hauling was continued with it under

22SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
the keel of the ship with a rope. There was chance of cutting the skin of the offenders into
shreds and this left every possibility of drowning.
Lethal injection
This was used a method of execution in the USA in the year 1982. This became the
most practiced and frequently used method in the country.
Lock up
Lock up was the place where the prisoners were kept. These were the bare cell that
was called lock-ups. Usually the drunkards were detained in such places. The lock up was
usually found in the English villages.
Mutilation
Mutilation was one of the most violent and barbaric treatment. This included the
cutting off the hands, cutting off the ears, the nose. The persons were even made blind in this
type of punishment. The tongue of the criminals was cut. In the Ancient world the Assyrians
often punished the people by cutting off their ears, lips or even nose. In the historical times
this type of punishment was used for crimes like stealing or poaching. This punishment was
famous in England. The ears and other body parts of the criminals were cut in order to punish
them.
Oubliette
In this type of punishment the prisoners were lowered into a pit that was in the bottom
of a jail. This type of punishment was called oubliette. The etymology of the term comes
from the French word oublier that meant to forget. The justification of the name was such
that the prisoners were forgotten and they were never remembered in the future years.

23SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Picket or piquet
This was common in the 17th century and it was known to be the military punishment.
In this type of punishment the prisoner was hung by his wrist and his one foot was placed on
a pointed sharp wooden stake but it the stake was not a sharp one. The wrist of the prisoner
would become tied and it would start to pain. The temptation would be support his weight on
the pointed stake that was painful. In the 18th century it was abolished as it made it difficult
for the soldiers to march afterwards.
Picking oakum
The ship ropes that were covered in the tar were called oakum. It was majorly
practiced in the nineteenth century. In this type of punishment the rope was pulled apart by
hand and it was recycled. The oakum was picked by the convicts and the people in the
workhouses. It made the fingers of the convicts and the workers bleed and swelling. The
persons who were made to pick oakum were made to do such work as it was an unpleasant
job. The work was painful as well as it was tedious. As it was a difficult job and it was a tuff
one the workers were punished with this particular work.
Pillory and stocks
Pillory was a wooden frame that was tied to a pole. These had holes in it through
which the head and the hands of a person were placed. After that the frame was locked and it
was subjected to the humiliation and ridicule. The people threw harsh and unpleasant objects
at the person who was tied to the pillory. The stocks were used to humiliate a person by
putting their feet through the holes that were there in the wooden frame of the stock. The
pillory and the stocks were used in the early 19th century and it was abolished in the latter half
of the 19th century. In Britain it was abolished between the years 1837 to 1872.

24SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Poison
Poison was something that was taken orally. It was rarely used as a process of
execution and punishment. However there are many such instances where many persons were
forced to drink poison and commit suicide. The greatest instance of this is the great Greek
philosopher named Socrates who was forced to commit suicide by drinking hemlock which
was a dangerous poison. This was extracted from a kind of flowering plant.
Pressing
In England when a person was refused to plead guilty he was pressed. On the body of
a person a wooden board was placed and more weight was added on him by and he was kept
in that position until he accepted that he was guilty. Finally if a man did not commit his crime
till the end he was kept in that position for long until he died. The last man who was pressed
to death in England died in Horsham, Sussex in the year 1735.
Prison
The concept of prison came to be used in the later years. After the 19th century the
concept of prison came into being. In the later part of the 19th century prison was used as a
place to banish and execute the criminals. Before their trial people were kept in the prisons.
The sentence was either execution or it was some form of corporal punishment. The prisons
were not maintained in a proper way and they were kept dirty and they were extremely
overcrowded. The prison consisted of many diseases and they were rife and they were rife
and being sent to prison that was equivalent to death sentence for them as it was unhygienic.
The fact that it was unhygienic made them more ill and it resulted to death. Many prisoners
notably died of typhus that was called the goal fever. However in the 19th century the sanitary
conditions of the prison was developed and they were made well. They were taken care of

25SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
and were used to keep the criminals on trial. In spite of this the regime was harsh. The
convicts were made to work and they were assigned with tedious works. The task they were
given were pointless. The most common task was they were given the job to turn the handle
of the wheel again and again.
Public executions
Public execution was treated as a means of entertainment. It was practiced in the 19th
century. A particular day was fixed when the execution was done. The convicts were
punished by humiliating them and this served as a source of entertainment of the public’s.
This punishment added a feeling of embarrassment for the accused.
Ruler
This was practiced till the late 20th century. This was basically used in the primary
schools. The teacher hit the students with a ruler. The hitting was so hard that it left some
amount of impression on the hands of the students. Later this punishment became brutal
when it was used to hit other body parts of the students. Sometimes it caused serious injury to
the students. It was not restricted only to the hands of the students. They were bitten red with
the ruler in many other body parts.
Scold’s bridle
This was a metal frame that was placed over the head of a woman. It had a bit that
stuck in the mouth of the woman in order to prevent her from talking. The bridle of the scold
and the branks was used during the 16th century in Scotland and it was used in England in the
year 1824 which was used for the last time.
Slavery

26SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The practice of slavery was common in the ancient world. In the ancient world the
slaves were usually the prisoners of war or their descendants. In the Roman Empire the
crimes were punished by being made a slave. Being slave was a painful punishment. They
were made to do whatever their masters wished them to do. They had no will of their own.
This included men as well as woman who were bought by the masters and they were kept
separate under the rule of their masters. The slaves were bought from the markets and they
were made to do work under the will of their masters. Not only they but their entire
generation had to serve their masters despite their will. The children of the family of the
slaves were denied the right to education. This was the life time punishment one could get.
The masters had the power to kill the slaves. The masters always carried guns in their pockets
and if they noticed something wrong in their slaves they were shot to dead by their masters.
In the later years it was observed that the slaves escaped from the control of their masters.
They escaped into the forests or into some other lands. In such cases if they were caught
while escaping they were shot to dead.
Slipper
Slipper is a euphemism. It was normally a trainer or a plimsoll. The teachers used a
trainer to hit the children on their backside. It was caused pain to the children.
Stoning
This was considered to be a simple method of executing people. A crowd was
gathered who threw stones at the condemned person until he or she was dead. It was a
common practice in the Middle East. It is still used in the modern times today.
Strap

27SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
This punishment was used to punish the children who were found lazy to work in the
mills. They were hit with leather straps. In the 20th century they were used in some English
schools. They were either hit across the hands or they were hit on their backside.
Sweatbox
This was usually kept in the hot countries where a sweatbox was a cramped cell
where the prisoner would sweat until he felt the effects of dehydration.
Tawse
This punishment was used in the Scottish schools. It was a leather strap with two or
three tails. This was basically used in the schools of Scotland to hit the children. The child
was hit on his hand.
Transportation
Compared to hanging it was merciful. It was a convenient way of ridding Britain of
criminals. In the early 17th and the 18th century people were transported to the colonies in
North America. However the American Revolution of 1775 brought that to an end. In the
later years the convicts were transported to Australia. This however ended in the year 1868.
Treadmill
The treadmill was invented in the year 1817 and it was soon introduced to many
British prisons. It was a hard work and a monotonous work. It was boring and this work had
no motivation. It was abolished in British prisons in the year 1898.
Whirligig

28SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
This punishment included a wooden cage on a pivot. The accused was shut inside it
and after they were shut inside it the cage was spun around until the prisoners became
nauseous and they vomited. This was known to be military punishment.
Wooden spoon
In the 20th century many parents used a wooden spoon to hit their children. The other
implements that were used were the slippers and hairbrushes.
The criminal attitude in a person comes because of certain specific reasons. There are
several factors that are responsible for the criminal activities of a criminal. The factors
include the poverty factor, the lack of education and the lack of family bonding. The criminal
attitude was something that comes simultaneously in a person. This is not something that is
inborn in a person. The poor financial condition makes a person to indulge in some amount of
criminal acts3. The criminals commit the crimes like robbery, theft in order to support their
family and overcome the poor financial conditions that their families go through. The
criminals often lack proper education and they have less influence of the religious aspects
like the Bible and the other holy religious books on them. The person who stays away from
the holy books and the religious institutions tend to indulge in the criminal activities4. It was
believed that the people who were away from the religious lessons and from the religious
touch they usually were not aware of the holy lessons given by god and the evil consequences
of the criminal acts. This is one of the most powerful components that influence the
individuals to commit crime5.
3 Cole, George F., Christopher E. Smith, and Christina DeJong. The American system of criminal justice.
Cengage Learning, 2018
4 Schreiter, Robert J. Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality & Strategies. Orbis Books,
2015.
5 Brandl, Steven G. Criminal investigation. SAGE Publications, 2018.

29SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The concept of prison ministry is somehow the most uncomfortable and it is a
challenging task. This concept is about the love of god. This concept is prevalent in the
middle of painful and troublesome atmosphere of prisons6. The thesis concentrates on the
framework for the Anglican Diocese of the Mauritius country in order to exercise a prison
ministry. Mauritius is a multicultural country and it is active in religion. The prison system is
a locked up system and it has hectic rules and hectic regulations. The prison institutions do
not have Anglican among the detainees7. At times this prevents from having effective
Anglican Chaplaincy. Apart from all this the grace of god is always considered to be present
above all the barriers in collaboration with the Prison Fellowship Mauritius. This has set up
many programs like the listening and the counseling, the attainment of the spiritual journey,
the educational support, and the other similar programs. The ultimate aim of prison ministry
is to assist, the marginalized and the downtrodden people in order to rediscover themselves as
the child of God without any judgment. This is the continuous walking along the detainees
that bring the possibilities of transformation8.
6 Miller, Marc L., and Ronald F. Wright. Criminal Procedures: The Police. Wolters Kluwer
Law & Business, 2015.
7 Pollack, Detlef, and Daniel VA Olson, eds. The role of religion in modern societies.
Routledge, 2012.
8 Garrow, Carrie E., and Sarah Deer. Tribal criminal law and procedure. Rowman &
Littlefield, 2015.

30SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
1.1 Background
Church is the society that is the only society that exists for serving the society and for
offering some amount of social service. The church offers care to all those individuals who
are the members of the church as well who are not the members of the church. The church
embraces all types of persons who are guilty as well as who are not guilty of the crime. The
church serves the role of healing. The environment in the prison is chaotic and it is quite
negative. The church improves the environment of the prison and amidst such negative and
chaotic situation the church provides a situation in which the criminals receive comfort. This
helps the church to have a positive impact on the criminals9. The criminals require
correctional homes and a warm treatment from the correctional homes. This is the reason the
religious programs for the inmates were conducted among the oldest and now among almost
all correctional facilities in the recent world. The religious programs transform the criminals
into a good human being10. The society has a major role in the treatment of the prisoners. The
society looks up to the prisoners as a different person. They are marginalized by the society
which acts as a negative aspect. The prisoners are treated as the negative individuals of the
society. They have been found guilty at some point and have outraged the law. The thesis
concentrates on the treatment of church and the society towards the criminal and analyses
their role on rectifying the criminal and transforming the individuals from criminals to a
responsible citizen11.
9 Seamands, David A. Healing for Damaged Emotions Workbook. David C Cook, 2015.
10 Hendron, Jill Anne, Pauline Irving, and Brian Taylor. "The unseen cost: A discussion of the
secondary traumatization experience of the clergy." Pastoral psychology 61.2 (2012): 221-
231.

31SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Mauritius is a multi religion country where the majority people belong to the Hindu
religion. The Hindu religion was mainly started when the Indians started to work as
indentured laborers. This followed the abolition of slavery. Currently the country consists of
maximum Hindus and the rest are Christian, there are some amount of Buddhist as well. The
Christians that are there is Mauritius are maximum catholic and they are huge in number.
However apart from Hinduism and Christianity Islam also exists in Mauritius but only in a
small number. This is the present scenario of Mauritius. The country has witnessed a
completely different scenario in the past. The country has seen a bitter reality in the past. The
country witnessed a dark history in the past. There were undesirable factors like exploitation,
inequality that prevailed in the country. Slavery was a term and a concept that cannot be
detached from the country. The colonial rule existed in the country and this was there for a
longer time. The communal relations are characterized by the use of, ‘Harmonious
separatism’. Ethnicity, religion and language have been one of the important factors in
forming the political as well as the social sphere of the country. The society of Mauritius is
remarkable for the different religions that exist in the region. Christianity first came in
Mauritius with the Dutch invaders. This again got eradicated with them but again Christianity
came back with the people of France. They brought back Christianity to the region. There
was a law where all the slaves who came to the island where supposed to be baptized
Catholic. Roman Catholics formed the major part of the country. The reformed tradition in
Mauritius can be dated back to the period of Dutch. The Anglican Church was introduced
during the British period. In the modern time this is a part of the province of the Indian
Ocean. The country was declared as an independent nation in the year 1968. During the
11 Wulff, David. "Psychology of religion." Encyclopedia of psychology and religion.
Springer, Boston, MA, 2014. 1424-1429.

32SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
independence the country had no other specific religion and no specific culture or any
specific tribe. Western legal tradition saw the history of adjudication where justice is defined
and it is carried out by those who attained some amount of powerful position and the
criminals were found to be punished by flogging, or they used to be maimed and killed. The
slaves were brutally treated. They were subject to wide psychological torture and violence.
They were kept away from their families, from their culture as well as from their language.
Apart from this the slave owners used to visit the attacks that were done on slaves in a
systematic manner. The slaves were often degraded on the public and their dignity was
disgraced. They were ripped off their dignity. They were punished and humiliated in front of
the public. The Roman Statute considers slavery as a crime that is against humanity. Crime is
the violation of the clearly defined rules and regulations Johnstone argued that justice is the
process that can be achieved only if the needs and the requirements of the offenders are met.
He criticized the process of adjudication. According to him this was not a productive process.
Even after adjudication justice may not be served. There are many scholarly materials, in
which there is a clear distinction between the restorations, reparation and retribution. The
restoration implies the repairing of the status quo. There is a chance of revival from the
present condition to a favorable condition. On the other hand reparation indicates the revival
of the loss that cannot be restored. Retribution involves the punishment of the offenders.
Among all the three forms the restorative justice is the best form of justice. It encourages the
wrong doers or the offenders to interact with the society and the peoples who dwell in the
society. The objective of this is to repair and restore the individuals and make them free from
their crimes. This improved the relationship between the offenders and the society. It includes
repairing the community and put the offenders in a situation of reconciliation. The
reconciliation has been proved to be an effective process. It was more concerned about the
well-being of the offenders and not just the public.

33SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Slavery society in Mauritius
Slavery seems to be a distant idea yet this is evident in the modern Mauritius. The
proof of these is the monuments and the buildings that were constructed as a result of the act
of slavery. The slaves did lend huge contribution to the country. The truth and justice report
revealed the activities of the slaves like the slaves used to produce bricks, lime, wood and
iron works in construction. The slaves made innumerable contribution towards the city of
Mauritius. In the New world the church was present throughout the life span of slavery.
Many have put forward an argument that Christianity was by no means solely an anti-slavery
advocate. It has however been recognized that the Christian churches made effort to abolish
the despicable institutes. There are also many arguments that are contradictory to these. It has
been found that the slavery was an act that was a lucrative business that was used to make
profit by many people who belonged to the church. There were many people who were
adamant and they practiced the same for a longer period of time. From the catholic as well as
from the protestant root there are many different theories that have developed. Along with the
theories some independent beliefs have also been developed. Few abolitionists argued that
Christianity alone had the power to abolish slavery from developing in the New World. The
Church had different way of dealing the system of slavery. Church was the great opponent to
slavery. The scenario was same during the colonial period as well as during the Roman
Empire. The fact is that many slave holders were Christians. Few of them were members of
the clergy. It was however found that some of the missionaries owned slaves. Some
missionaries owned the in the early fifteenth to sixteenth century owned Native American
slaves. There were five major countries that were found to dominate the slavery and the slave
trade. These were either pure catholic countries or at least catholic influenced countries.
Some of the countries were Spain, England, Portugal and France. This reminds of the
instance when Christopher Columbus thought of enslaving the natives while invading the

34SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
island of Hispaniola in the year 1492. It was reported that he seized six young men that had
canoed up alongside his ship as prisoners with the intention of sending back to the catholic
king and queen of Spain as slaves. He did not end here. He believed that he men would work
well if they had women around them. Apart from this he intended to convert the slaves into
Catholicism. Initially the church did not consider the prisoners to be human beings. This was
changed after the abolition movement in which the anti-slavery society was a part. The
treatment towards the slave was rough and harsh. Many social workers wanted to help the
slaves and save humanity. Quaker was prominent among them who wanted to save the
reputation of England from the slavery. Quaker showed sympathy with the African slaves on
many levels. The Africans were specifically brought to the region as slaves. They were
kidnapped from their homes and they were even lured under false pretenses.
In Mauritius slaves had a tuff time. They were awarded with harsh punishment and
they were treated in an inhuman manner. The punishments were such where the masters used
to cut off one ear of the slaves on committing one mistake. They used to cut the thighs of the
slaves for committing the same mistake for the second time. The slaves had to work
continuously. They were whipped when they did not want to work. They were even killed if
they try to escape from their masters. They were treated like animals and they sometimes
committed suicide. They could not bear the violent treatment of the masters. Governor
Charles Isidore Decean surrendered isle de France to the British and they named the region
Mauritius again. The British brought slaves from India. They brought slaves mainly from
India, Africa and Madagascar. The British introduced a rule where the slaves had to obey
their masters under any circumstances. They were not allowed to deny their masters. Life was
difficult for the slaves of the country. The slaves were treated as a property and they were
even treated as furniture and not like human beings by their masters. The slave was treated as
an object. They were hired, they were sold in the market, and they were even pawned. A

35SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
slave is always separated from his or her own family. The slaves did not have the right to
marry anybody. It was found that the family of the slaves was the property of their masters.
The children and even the wives or the husbands were the property of the masters. Sometimes
the slaves were even deprived of daily wages. The slaves were not allowed to do any other
job without the permission of the masters. They were even killed without their own will by
their masters. The killing of the slaves was considered to be legal and normal. They were
tortured and were harassed throughout their life. They were not allowed to carry weapons
without the permission of the owners.
Usually the slaves in Mauritius used to work as farmers. They used to cultivate crops
especially sugarcane. They were not allowed to feel lazy and if they showed some amount of
laziness in their work, they were whipped badly and they were not even allowed to have a
free time of their own. The slaves did not get any holiday. They had to work even on
Sundays. The poor health condition of the slaves was not considered. They had to work even
if they were not well. The women worked as maids. A slave was even forced to work without
compensation. Life was challenging and it was painful for them. They had to endure strict
and barbaric kind of punishment. They were physically as well as mentally tortured by their
husbands. They received a cruel treatment throughout their life. Their entire life was
surrounded with problems and they had no way out to come out of the problem. They had to
sacrifice throughout their life. The concept of crime and punishment can be associated with
the treatment of the slaves. The punishments that the slaves received were harsh and were
unjustified. These went on for a longer period of time. The structure of punishments remained
same for a longer period of time. They were used to punish the offenders and to make them
realize their guilt. The harsh system of punishment prevailed for a longer period of time until
the Anglican Ministry was set up that believed in spiritual treatment of the offenders.

36SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The system of slavery ended in the year 1838-1899. This was a blow to the slave
owners. The blow was both economical and psychological one. It was a blow as it was the
culture that the white men possessed slaves as their property. The men who had slaves were
termed as honorable man. This extended their status in the society. Slavery existed in
Mauritius for a longer period of time but at present it got eradicated completely. Crime was
seen as an unpardonable offense. Since then the harsh punishments came into being that still
exists. The degree of the punishments have lowered and they have turned out to be little
lenient in their approach. There was no concept of spiritual treatment in the beginning. The
punishments included whipping, mutilation of the body parts, like ears, nose or any other
body parts. Branding was another form of punishment. The slaves were traded to some other
country in the name of the progress of manpower. Slave trade flourished in the 18th and the
19th century. Mauritius acted as the main port of slave trade. Later in the year 1793, the slave
trade was forbidden. In the later year’s slave trade were even made illegal in the British
colonies. There was much opposition that was there against slavery. While the British stated
to rule in the territory the system of slavery was not completely removed. They were not
eradicated from the society. The slavery Abolition Bill was passed in the year 1833. The
slaves before this tried to escape and free themselves by hiding themselves in the forest or
any distant place. The slaves were freed from their masters and they became free men after
the slavery system was abolished. They were however certain conditions after they were
made free. The clauses were like;
a) The agricultural slaves had to serve for 6 years.
b) The domestic slaves had to serve their masters for 4 years.
c) The masters were supposed to remunerate the apprentices.
However it has been reported that slavery was not that strict in Mauritius as it was in the
other western countries. The slaves were mainly brought into the region for the development

37SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
of the nation. They were exploited and they were expected to do all the work at a cheaper
rate. The slaves of the region were kept away from all the luxury in life. They were kept away
from all sorts of enjoyment and any source of entertainment was denied. Their children were
not even allowed to receive education and they were perceived as slaves for the rest of their
life like their parents. They were simply a source of income for their masters. The tenure of
the slavery system can be divided into many periods. The first period was the Dutch period.
The Dutch East India Company treated the rich and the poor equally. They imported slaves
for the smooth running of the company. Initially they were brought to the island only for the
economic benefit. They wanted the slaves to work on fields. The maroon slaves ran away
from the there to the mountains and the forests and they were found to cause mayhem for the
settlers. They often burned the forests, destroyed the farms and other properties of the
settlers. They were aware of the fact that if under any situation they were caught they would
have to face severe consequences. In spite of this they kept on escaping. Soon the Dutch had
to leave the island and the French succeeded them. The French rulers oppressed the slaves.
They had to follow the Code Noir. According to the code noir the slaves had to follow all the
instructions of their masters. There were few laws that were established for the slaves but
they were not granted to them. Under the French rule the servants were not allowed to take
part in the matrimony and they were not allowed to take part in any kind of social activities.
They were granted the right to be baptized. The code noir was useful for the slaves as it acted
as a support for the slaves as it provided a mental as well as a physical support to them. The
only law that existed considered the fact that the servants had no other work but only to obey
their masters. The intensity of the punishment was high and worst. The type of punishment
was decided by the masters.

38SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
1.2 Problem Statement
The problem that has been addressed in this particular dissertation is the conditions of
the prisoners and the Prisoners and the Prison Ministry. The prisoners are looked up in low
form in the society. They are considered to be harmful for the society. The criminals are
termed as criminals as they have offended the law and therefore they are left to suffer in the
worst possible way. The consequences that the prisoners had to go through were not smooth
and they were made cruel and harsh for the criminals. The treatment of the prisoners was
usually considered to be harsh and a torturous one. The general concept prevailed that the
prisoners had to be treated in the harsh manner and they had to go through certain torture in
prison. The prisoners were locked up in the jail which was dark and the keys of the prison
were thrown away. The stigma was carried for a longer period of time. The poor treatment of
the prisoners was a problem. The concept of prison was something extremely dark and
negative. This was not at all an effective way of treating them. However the church has
realized this problem and they have taken the responsibility on them to improve the existing
process of treating the prisoners. The church treated the criminals with love and with extreme
care12.
1.3 Justification for the project
The project has been chosen in order to understand the theological and the
sociological perspective of the treatment of the criminals and their condition in the society.
The major purpose of the study is to analyze the position of the criminals in the recent world
as well as in the New Testament and in the holy Bible. The people of Mauritius are not aware
12 Bent-Goodley, Tricia, Noelle St Vil, and Paulette Hubbert. "A spirit unbroken: The black
church's evolving response to domestic violence." Social Work and Christianity 39.1 (2012):
52.

39SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
of the issue of criminality and the treatment that the criminals receive in the prisons. The
major reasons behind the crime are not known to the maximum amount of people. The factor
that has been taken into account in this project is the reason that is responsible for the crimes.
The process of stigmatization is unknown to the entire world. The effects of stigmatization
are unknown to the common mass. The crimes that were committed by the criminals were
known to the common people but the reason for that and the effects of the same were not
known to the common people. The stigmatization remained and this was something which
needed consideration. The project intends to reveal all aspects related to crime and
criminology. The role played by prison ministry was not clear to the society. The church and
the society were the two major aspects in this case. The point of view of a criminal was never
justified. The crimes that were performed by the criminals were because of some reasons.
Neither the people of the society nor the church tried to analyze the point of view of the
criminals. The treatment of the society was worse than the treatment a criminal received in
the prison. The individuals who were found guilty had to face the oppressions in the prison as
well as in the outside world. This area has not been highlighted by the sociologists and less
research has been done in this area. The religious angle is considered to be an effort in
transforming an individual into a responsible citizen. To sum the rationale or the justification
for the project the role of the Christian faith in rehabilitation comes to the forefront. Apart
from this the identification of the main contributing factors in deviance among the inmates
and the ways of developing the evidence-based policy for the Anglican Diocese of Mauritius
to exercise a sustainable prison ministry in Mauritian context.
1.4 Description of the Project Process
In order to complete the project the primary as well as the secondary source of
methodology has been taken into account. The help of the journals, newspaper and the
sources used in Google scholar has been used in the research paper. The method that has been

40SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
applied in this particular project is the qualitative research method. Apart from this is the
study will include an empirical study. This process includes the interviews and the personal
observation. The interviews will be conducted of the family of the detainees, the prison
officers. This would include the view of the church and society towards the prisoners. The
interview would include the fact whether the church is engaged or not engaged in the prison
ministry. The interview of the ex-Detainees and the NGOSs those are officiating in prisons
and society has been interviewed in the project. The further research is based on the personal
experience of the Prison Chaplain and the Executive Director of Prison Fellowship Mauritius.
1.5 Expectations from this Project
At the end of the project the role of the church towards the Prison Ministry and the
way adopted by the prison Ministry towards the betterment of the prisoners can be
understood. Apart from this the project is expected to analyze the view point of the criminals
and the factors that is responsible for their crime. The project includes a survey of few people
related to this area. The project will give an idea of the Christian element on the criminals and
the reasons of deviance. The position of the prison fellowship on the context of Mauritius
government can be extracted in this particular project. The conceptual framework will help in
demonstrating the entire idea about the system of criminology and the different aspects that
are related to the particular concept. These are few areas that can be extracted towards the
end of the project. This would bring out few facts that is still now unknown to the whole
world and these facts were never realized or analyzed by the people. The paper will make the
common people realize and understand the unknown facts related to the act of deviance and
crime.
1.6 Hypothesis
H0: there is a significant relation between the non-economic factor and the criminal
behavior.

41SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
H1: there is a significant relation between the economic factor and the criminal
behavior.
H0: there is a significant relation between the past criminal history and stigmatization
within the Church community.
H1: there is a significant relation between the past criminal history and stigmatization
within society.
Chapter 2
Literature Review
According to A'Hern (2017), after completing a punishment sentence and coming
back into the world, a prisoner faces a wide variety of apparently outlandish difficulties to
overcome. Victimization of the recently discharged prisoners is raging, and is over the
monetary and racial favoritism one may have confronted even before entering jail. Convicts
discharged from jail, frequently experience serious difficulties finding work through which
they can earn an amount to keep their body and soul together; moreover, they cannot any
longer avail pupil loan, which could have aided to enhance their scope of employment. They
are invariably denied protected and inexpensive lodging; furthermore they are not even
permitted to occupy public lodging (regardless of the fact that they reside with their family).
They frequently lose access to sustenance subsidies and other benefits provided by the
government, at the very hour when they require it most. Near and dear ones might have
refused to provide shelter, and it may feel like there is no place left to reach. This could be
the probable hour when God's Church will be required most. Houses of worship are known as
the inevitable parts of recuperating assembly. Churches possess exceptional expertise to carry
out the function of healing prisoners in every aspect and are not much concerned about the
nuances of society. The Church can assume a vital role in placing lately discharged residents

42SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
back into their respective communities. The book of Hebrews states that certainly humankind
have been summoned to provide common love a chance to proceed. Individuals must not
disregard outsiders, owing to the fact that by entertaining strangers, people unknowingly have
entertained angels, in the past. An individual must feel the pangs of torture and empathize
with one who is imprisoned13.
The above-mentioned teachings influenced the West Ohio Conference(WOC) of the
United Methodist Church to ponder upon the methods in which the discharged prisoners can
be better accommodated in society and church (Hlavka, Wheelock and Jones 2015). Harris
Tay, Director of Diversity Initiatives at the WOC states that a considerable measure of
chapels and theological colleges are engaged with their exclusive correction services. Reentry
work ought to be an inseparable part of the vital functions of the church authorities.
Thereafter, the WOC set out to make the 'All In Community' re-entrance program in order to
address numerous aspects of correction service inside the setting of chapel groups. This
program was shaped to be purposefully resource based, recognizing that the detainees
themselves are precious for the service. In this manner, the educational programs started to
shape with direction and organization of those presently detained, depending on their
proposals instead of opinions of outsiders14. Eventually, the WOC intends to establish a link
between twenty-five houses of worship with prisoners to refurbish connections. The
expectation is to have chapels prepared to accept wherever detainees are going. They will
13 Forell, George W., ed. Christian social teachings: a reader in Christian social ethics from
the Bible to the present. Fortress Press, 2012.
14 Allen, David. According to the Scriptures: The Death of Christ in the Old Testament and
the New. SCM Press, 2018.

43SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
make a wellbeing infrastructure, a delicate arriving, for those being discharged. The program
is intended to be about common connections, understanding that everybody can learn and
develop regardless of what part they play. While inside jail, members are required to
accomplish social competency preparation. Hence, the interested churches require
undergoing the same. The objective of the organization is to change detainees, change jails,
and change social communities. Cumming proposes that churches keen on participating in
reentry work turn out to be exceptionally conscious of the location of their congregation
assemblage and respective offerings. Every church is different, with different needs and
resources. Altering a congregation's correction service is vital for both its viability and
constancy.
It was argued by Hlavka, Wheelock and Jones (2015), that Jesus himself was put on
trial, discovered liable, detained, subjected to capital punishment, and eventually to death
penalty by state the Religious assemblage must be urged to take part in credible deliberate
supplication for the detained and for nearby jails. Prayers must be uttered for those going to
be discharged and the individuals who have as of late returned their respective societies.
Appeal must be placed before God for the reestablishment of both the detained and the
frameworks and structures that brought them there15. These supplications must be included in
the consistent ritual of churches, alongwith other petitions of the general population. The
detained men and ladies must not be overlooked or left out from daily supplications; rather
they must be diligently lifted to God. As supplications keep on being lifted, a thought may be
raised about starting a little gathering or book of scriptures consider around the issues of mass
detainment. In organization with willing remedial foundations, to sending birthday and
15 MacClancy, J., 2017. AN ENDNOTE, ABOUT HOW TO BEGIN. Anthropology
and Public Service: The UK Experience, p.179.

44SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Christmas cards to particular prisoners might be initiated. Every member of the church must
sign the cards as a feature of their Sunday morning schedules. Consideration must be made
regarding the church taking the shape of a sanctuary for the lately released prisoners. It is
essential to connect with gatherings frequently around these issues to help develop
mindfulness and empathy. The whole worshiping group should stay careful and devout
together, the issue must not get restricted as the concern of a handful people. The detainment
facilities must be lifted up and those serving with them as a group, realizing that one are
reacting to God's call in recalling the imprisoned. Any church must be prepared to face a few
difficulties; the administration related with jail service can be intimidating, so also can be the
social contrasts one may come across in jail service work. Furthermore, it is in this manner
that one perceives God.
The book of Isaiah 61:1 states that the Spirit of the Lord God has arrived, owing to the
fact that the Lord has blessed to lecture great news to poor people, He has sent good humans
to encourage the beaten down, to declare freedom upon the hostages, and the opening of the
jail to the individuals who are captives.
The account of the Anglican Youth Ministry-Mauritius has been taken into account in
this context. They share the same vision that the holy Bible shares. They want to empower
the youth group within the diocese and within the society for the glory of Christ. While
analyzing this it can be observed that the religion has a heavy impact on the attitude and
behavior of the criminals. It aims at rectifying the society and makes it a place to live without
any crime. The Anglican Youth Ministry of Mauritius believes that the youths are gifted with
precious talents that should not be wasted in a negative side. This is the reason they try to
nurture the talents of the youths to avoid from getting distracted16. The passion for Christ is
16 Freitas, A.M., Inácio, A.R. and Saavedra, L., 2016. Motherhood in prison:
reconciling the irreconcilable. The Prison Journal, 96(3), pp.415-436.

45SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
something that can be considered as the greatest healer for the criminals. From the religious
point of view a person needs to have faith on lord as he would help to tackle the issues related
to his life. It is important for a person to deal with the issues that are there in his life. The
Anglican ministry of Mauritius considers the fact that sometimes due to lack of identity the
life of an individual becomes harder and for young people it could be harder. Some of the
factors include peer pressure and similar pressures. Diocese organizes some programs that are
intended to solve the issue that pertains in the life of the young people. It is believed that a
strong relationship with God will help the youth to get over the issues of their life with
oneself and with others. In order to attain a social as well as rational growth the youths are
required to seek help from the religious institutions17.
This is just one side of the argument which opines that religion has the power to
transform an individual from evil to a balanced one. The Anglican ministry does it by setting
the program based on the life of Daniel and Stephen who showed their passion towards God.
Submission to god is the only way to rectify the sins committed by a person. There are two
school of belief. One set of people believe that god is the supreme power and he has the
power to heal all the crimes committed by the people. The passion towards god and the
submission to God can enable a person to get rid of all his crimes18. It was evident that even
lord Jesus was sent to trial. The people should attach their sympathy with the persons who are
17 Ferenhof, H.A., Vignochi, L., Selig, P.M., Lezana, Á.G.R. and Campos, L.M.,
2014. Environmental management systems in small and medium-sized enterprises: an
analysis and systematic review. Journal of cleaner production, 74, pp.44-53.
18 Cunneen, C., Baldry, E., Brown, D., Brown, M., Schwartz, M. and Steel, A.,
2016. Penal culture and hyperincarceration: the revival of the prison. Routledge.

46SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
committing the crime. Reconciliation can help the criminals to rectify their crimes. Jesus
asked every individual to forgive the sinners as they were not aware of what crime they were
committing. Changing the criminals in a moral way can lead to a self realization in them and
they can change themselves accordingly. The other set of people have some other view on
this. According to them the criminals should be brutally punished. The self realization is
something that cannot work. The punishment can bring the criminals on track therefore this is
a necessary process. The punishment is the strict form of rectifying a criminal. According to
some individuals this is an effective process. These are the different thoughts that are related
to the sociological perspective of the criminals and the crimes19.
The Mothers’ Union of the Anglican Diocese is also involved “ Outgate”
Mother’s Union is referred to an international Christian Charity which supports
families all around the world. The members of the charity comprise not only women or
mothers, but also many parents, grandparents, men, singles and widows. The main aim of the
charitable organization is to support the monogamous marriage as well as family life and
especially at the times of adversity. The charitable organization was being founded in the
year 1876 by Mary Sumner20. It was established in the Church of English parish of the Old
Alresford at Winchester. Mary Sumner founded the organization with her husband, where he
was the rector.
19 Basu, S. and Bano, S., 2016. Intrinsic-Extrinsic Motivation and Positive-Negative
Affect of Correctional Home Inmates. Journal of Psychosocial Research, 11(2),
p.497.
20 Mapika, Osiward. "" Unsung heroins" an investigation into the Anglican mothers union of diocese of Harare
with special reference to Luke: 1-3." (2015).

47SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Mary Sumner was highly inspired to start a movement after her first grandchild took
birth. She kept in mind the difficulties of being a mother and thus, she wanted to bring all
mothers belonging to different social classes in order to provide support to each other and
train them into motherhood. She saw this as some sort of vocational training, which every
woman should acquire before becoming a mother. In the year 1885, the first Bishop of
Newcastle, Ernest Roland Wilberforce prepared to address the churchgoing women in
Portsmouth Church Congress. He requested Mary Sumner to be the spokesperson of the
conference as he found nothing relevant to address the church women. However, Mary was
quite nervous and reluctant to speak in front of such a big crowd21.
Mary gathered courage and addressed her audience very passionately regarding the
powers every mother possesses, in order to change the whole country for betterment.
Majority of the women presented their viewpoints and they got highly encouraged to return to
their own parishes for setting up similar meetings. The Bishop of Winchester, while presiding
over Congress declared that Mother’s Union will be a diocesan organization. The movement
emerged and started growing beyond the boundaries of Diocese of Winchester. It was due to
the importance on morality by the Victorian British Society and their struggles to eradicate
social ills and the growth of Anglican mission all throughout British Empire22.
The Mother’s Union started spreading to several dioceses of Exeter, Ely, Newcastle,
Hereford and Lichfield. Moreover, it also started spreading rapidly all throughout United
Kingdom. By the year 1892, there were around 60,000 members in the twenty eight dioceses.
21 Diogu, G. O., and Olive Adaobi Iweka. "The Impact Of The Church On The Growth Of Textile Industry In
Nigeria."
22 Schwarz, A., et al. Engaging women and men in community-based resource management processes in
Solomon Islands. WorldFish, 2014.

48SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
This grew around 169, 000 members by the next century. Annual meetings were being
organized in the year 1893, and by the end of 1896, Mother’s Union Central Council was
being formed. In this procedure, Mary Sumner got unanimously elected for the post of
president, which she held till her nineties. During the era of her Diamond Jubilee, in between
1897, Queen Victoria became the patron of Mother’s Union23. She gave the organization an
unprecedented approval stamp.
The Mother’s Union of Mary Sumner set up several branches all throughout British
Empire. It began in New Zealand and then Canada as well as India. After the First World
War, she started leading the Mother’s Union in order to rebuild the heart of Britain. In the
year 1920, she witnessed the first conference of Mother’s Union by the overseas workers. In
modern days’ scenario, Mother’s Union is being seen as a global movement led by both
women and men. It highly supports the local churches with their prayers as well as activities
of the branch members and local communities. This is done through several projects of social
outreach. Moreover, it is being seen as an international campaigning charity24.
The primary concern of the organization is the plight of women all across the world.
However, it started conducting projects which included literacy, overall development, micro
finance, parenting and campaigns against women violence as well as women trafficking. The
organization has become a part of ‘Make Poverty History’ as well as ‘Jubilee Debt
Coalition’. Successfully it has been able to influence the government for introducing the right
of the parents to request for flexible working hours. In addition to this, it speaks on the issues
23 Nixey, Annabel. "Expecting Ministry Wives: An interview-based analysis of the expectations upon ministry
wives in the Sydney Anglican Diocese in the 1960s-80s. What were the expectations placed upon them, did they
change and if so, how and why?." Integrity 3 (2016).
24 Mollenhauer, Erin. "Guide to the Mothers' Union-Diocese of Sydney Collection." (2015).

49SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
related to gender equality internationally, through its representatives of United Nations. The
campaigns that were conducted in the United Kingdom also comprised lobbying for the
policy and industrial changes, in regards with the sexualisation and commercialization of
children. This whole incident led the then chief executive of the country, Reg Bailey to lead
the independent review of UK government. This was later termed as the Bailey Review25.
Mother’s Union was developed among the Anglican Communion, which uses
a particular structure of its own. The individual branches are generally made on the basis of
their parishes and small categories of parishes26. In addition to this, there are also the levels of
coordination, which corresponds to the archdeaconries and deaneries that are linked to the
branch organizations of the diocese. Each and every Anglican province has their separate
administration and this in turn, helps in supporting the worldwide President, presently Lynne
Tembey. The headquarters are in Mary Sumner house, located in Westminster, London27.
Mother’s Union is a widely popular name given by the society, is actually a global society
active within the Anglican Communion that posses charitable status by the Royal Charter.
The vision of this society is to create a world where God’s grace or love can be portrayed by
maintaining respectful, loving and flourishing relationships with individuals. It can be said
that the society’s purpose is to spread the beliefs or the Christian faith by transforming
various global communities by the nurture of the family in many ways.
25 Barker, John, and Anna‐Karina Hermkens. "The Mothers’ Union goes on strike: Women, tapa cloth and
Christianity in a Papua New Guinea society." The Australian Journal of Anthropology 27.2 (2016): 185-205.
26 Burkhardt, Geoffrey. "Church and parish ephemera: Significant historical resources." Anglican Historical
Society Journal 54 (2012): 29.
27 Haddad, Beverley. "Church Uniforms as an Indigenous Form of Anglicanism: A South African Case
Study." Journal of Anglican Studies 14.2 (2016): 156-171.

50SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The organization’s chief purpose is to encourage the individuals to develop Christian
faith among their wards. The organization is also aiming to sustain a global fellowship of the
Christians united through worship, service and prayer. Apart from those, the organization
wants to promote the societal conditions by stabilizing the family lives and by protecting the
children.
The Mother’s Union emphasizes mainly upon the importance of prayer and
underpinning its work. Each and every year, Mother’s Union conducts a ‘Wave of Prayer’.
All the dioceses are given a set day of praying for others and every branch is given a
particular time to offer their prayers. This gives the members of the Union a sense of bonding
for each and every one as the prayer’s wave moves from one branch to the other and from
one diocese to another. However, the vision and mission of the organization is to create a
world where God’s affection is shown via respect, love as well as flourishing relationships.
The aim as well as purpose of Mother’s Union is to demonstrate the overall faith of
Christianity in accordance with the transformation of the communities all across the world.
This is done through the nurture of families in various forms. For carrying out these aims, the
objectives of Mother’s Union are discussed as follows;
 Uphold the teachings of Christianity on the nature of marriage as well as promote its
understandings.
 Encouraging the parents to bring their children in the life and faith of Church.
 Maintain a fellowship of the Christians united in service, worship and prayer.
 Promoting conditions in the society favorable to a stable life as well as providing the
children with proper protection and support.

51SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
 Helping and assisting the ones whose family has met with hardships and adversity28.
The Mother’s Union is regarded as an integral part of Anglican Church, which is
actively engaged with the literacy programs, practical help, visitations to sick people, prayers
and church activities. In the region of Gambella, the literacy rate of women is not even
twenty percent. The school attendance rate is low, especially of girls and the women of the
society have no such opportunities of reading and writing. In the year 2011, the organization
has started its literacy program in this area, which has grown consistently. On an average, it is
now serving two groups of around thirty to forty adults in Nuer and Anuak Mission centre.
Moreover, Mother’s Union Literacy Program is planning to expand to the communities of
Mabaan, Dinka and Opo29.
The teachers are being trained at the Anglican centre, who then educates the women
of the villages. In the year 2013, the Union leaders of the organization started a short training
program in order to address the four different challenges which were later identified as
spirituality, inter tribal tension, health and poverty. For addressing these challenges, the
organization started providing some practical as well as theological skills for the women all
across seventy villages. This was done through the program named as ‘train the trainer’. The
program was aimed to train three thousand women and also empower them to affect the
changes within their communities30.
The main aim of Mother’s Union is to acquire a transformational nature. They have a
worldwide fellowship of more than four million members who bring Christian care to the
28 Gee, James Paul. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. Routledge, 2014.
29 Cuddon, John Anthony. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
30 Seth, Sanjay, ed. Postcolonial theory and international relations: A critical introduction. Routledge, 2013.

52SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
families belonging to different social classes. Their locally based membership mainly focuses
on promoting marriages and also building a stable life within the local communities. In
addition to this, the organization delivers care by following some steps. Firstly, they believe
in praying for relationships to be lovable and flourishing. Secondly, the organization helps in
enabling the development of different kinds; be it, economical, rational or personal in order to
strengthen the family lives. Thirdly, the organization believes in holding campaigns for social
justice aiming those on the marginal levels and also for providing them with greater
recognition to lead a stable family life.31
Currently, the organization is working with people from eighty three countries,
belonging to different social levels, irrespective of their faiths and believes. Mother’s Union
highly promotes stable marriage, stable family life, protection to the children and conduction
of campaigns. They support communities and families both in United Kingdom and all across
the world. The organization has expanded rapidly and presently, it has four million members
all across the world. Their members work all around the world and bring hope along with
practical support to the people each year32. This is done mainly through providing them with
literacy, parental support and also by organizing developmental programs as a part of
volunteer base. There are several projects related to the Mother’s Union, where the members
visit as well as counsel some prisoners and also their children on a regular basis. It is found
that the main issues faced by the women are domestic violence, poverty, illiteracy as well as
teenage pregnancy33
31 Donnelly, Jack. Universal human rights in theory and practice. Cornell University Press, 2013.
32 Fein, Helen. Human rights and wrongs: Slavery, terror, genocide. Routledge, 2015.
33 Cuddon, John Anthony. A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

53SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Sociology and criminal justice
The divergence of psychological and sociological approaches to crimes most likely
originated from the truth that the criminals and the antisocial individuals were looked at as
someone who is not a part of the society. There are numerous specialists who have received
disproportionate number of offenders of social norms who portrayed sorts of instability
emotionally and somehow show psychological deficits. On the other hand, many sociologists
have seen that crime can be studied as a statistical phenomenon and also by comparing total
number of detentions in various nations, neighborhoods, races, occupations and other
collective units34. For the individuals who are sociologists, for them the intergroup
differences in the patterns of behavior shall be understandable if it is looked at as a
consequence of the cultures in which people are reared. Culture, in this case, can be seen as
an understandable thing in terms of the history that can antedate any people. Precisely it can
be said that the sociologists can explain the prevalence of criminal behavior in a lone group
and on the other hand he or she can explain the behavior that is non criminal in another
group35.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the concept of the slum dwellers adopting
criminal mentality as children and children of the other socioeconomically rich background
learns how to behave properly by encultration can explain the behavior of the criminals who
are adults. In his thesis professor, Edwin Sutherland showed how thieves can in a consistent
34 Duwe, Grant, et al. "Bible college participation and prison misconduct: A preliminary
analysis." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 54.5 (2015): 371-390.
35 Milloy, J. S. (2017). A national crime: The Canadian government and the residential
school system (Vol. 11). Univ. of Manitoba Press.

54SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
manner accumulate complex superior quality techniques over time and these skills include
verbal abilities, planning criminal activities, and knowledge suitable for stealing and storing
stolen goods and most importantly the idea to get rid of the police if they get caught. In most
cases, such individuals master these skills while they get detained and in the prisons they
acquire these skills from the criminals who have past experiences. Thus it can be said that in
many occasions the criminals when they are sent to prisons with an aim to let them become
stable in the society and to become a good person, often acquires criminal skills and gets
motivation from the prison mates to continue their lives in the path of crime. Famous book
on criminology, ‘Crime and the community’, written by Frank Tannenbaum explains that the
process of enculturation is a vivid style that what can be found in the works of various
sociologists. In the book the description of criminal careers are labeled as the ‘dramatization
of evil’ in terms of the experience of an individual who for the first time committed a crime
and experienced the process of arrest, imprisonment and trials36. The whole procedure that is
involved with the case where an individual gets tagged or labeled as a criminal and then the
rejection he receives from the society being a criminal or antisocial. This situation drives the
criminal to meet other criminals as a need to socialize, that process helps the criminal to find
solace, acceptance and encouragement, and at times, he receives encouragement from the
fellow criminals. This process has an immense negative impact on the society and the first
time offender gets familiarized with the situation and gets into a phase that is irreversible or
he cannot find the way to get into the regular society. In accordance with the experiences of
the agencies of law enforcement, it can be seen that this way is referred to as a ‘hardening
process where the final result is the warrior psychosis of the first time offender.
36 Duwe, Grant, et al. "Bible college participation and prison misconduct: A preliminary
analysis." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 54.5 (2015): 371-390.

55SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
In the second quarter of the contemporary century showed the dependence of the
sociologists on the enculturation process as a justifying act against the crime and delinquency
that included various debates between the psychiatrists, sociologists, and criminologists. It
can be said that numerous psychologists and sociologists labeled all the criminals as
psychopath according to a book ‘principals of criminology’, which is not at all right.
Sutherland, who stated that psychopath is a vague idea that cannot help to accurately
diagnose individuals with criminal mentality, authored the book. Sutherland further added
that the patterns of criminality is left with some patterns which are unexplainable and
patterns of criminality can be looked at as a result of various social interactions. It is seen that
at times the psychologists attack other explanations of other psychologists and especially who
have lesser personality and lower level of intelligence. This offensive attitude of the
psychologists reached the highest point in the year of 1950 and that did not help the situation.
At that time, two students of Sutherland reviewed more than 100 cases where they tried to
differentiate non-criminals with the criminals by performing personality tests. The students
of Sutherland experienced that mere 42% of the total effort yielded different average scores
between the criminals and non-criminals. The significant difference between the social class
and the education of the criminals and the individuals of the normal society are tested and
also psychometric tests were performed among the criminals and non-criminals. While the
psychologists were fighting among themselves with the results of their tests, an explanation
for enculturation process for crime allowed many psychologists got allied with the
psychiatrists and fought against the traditional fundamentalists and legalists regarding the
issue between determinism and free will. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that in the
debate between the psychology and sociology regarding this issue. It can be said that the
disputes inherent in their debates loosened the fervor of the debate and eventually lead to
concession on both the parties. The sociologists impressively discredited the views, which

56SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
were monopolized by the other disciplines to a lone explanation for a crime that has been
committed. At times when the sociologists experienced criticism while they were defending
the explanations of enculturation for criminal activities, they failed in the non-delinquent and
highly delinquency areas. The sociologists were at that point of time somehow inclined to
defy this by asserting the most of these as those were delinquents who had never been
detained. The sociologists thus deployed various programs for prevention of delinquency in
high delinquency areas and somehow the increased awareness regarding the conflict between
the values of non-criminals and criminals. It is seen that the sociologists employed parole and
prison systems that at that time impressed many offender’s noncriminal ties. This good
impression acquired a to an extent which was not at all warranted by the facts as in most
cases the prisoners were immensely motivated to provide a noncriminal image of themselves
towards the staffs dedicated for the treatment.
It is worthwhile to mention that the study of white collar crimes identified various
crimes committed by individuals of the society who were highly respectable and that defied
the clear borderline between the criminals and non-criminal’s upbringing, education and
cultural background. When individuals who are not anyways exposed to criminal social
world somehow commit a violent crime it can appear very difficult to explain and might be
interpreted speculatively by a range of un-testable psychoanalytic postulations regarding
unconscious symbolism. It can be said that a specific mode of reaction against these sorts of
limitations of the explanations of enculturation process for crime was to assert that all the
criminal activities gts affected by various issues and these factors are prepotent in various
offenses. This research provides no framework that can specify the accurate function of some
specific factors in different crimes and do not indicate any interrelation in between those
factors. Various causation got accepted by the criminologists regarding diverse background
that is academic and that made it look more casual than they actually are. Each exponents of

57SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
multiple causation emphasized it’s previous theory. At that time the psychologists stressed on
the personality and on the other hand the sociologists emphasized on the culture; not only that
many scholars emphasized on the biological and various other explanations too.
As a general explanation for crime, in order to replace the simple process of
enculturation along with the multiple factors which were mentioned in Sutherland’s theory of
‘differential association’, the editors of Sutherland’s posthumous papers showed that he
conceived of his own theory of differential association as tentative ‘subject to revision in the
light of criticism and research’. Sutherland revised his theory in various respects before he
died and that too for the further development of the situation. It is a matter of fact that he
proposed whether an individual’s drives and motives are noncriminal or criminal, it still
remains a function where the legal codes will be defined by the people around him in a
favorable manner to their violation or observance. Most of the human beings experience a
mixture of these types of influence and an individual becomes criminal if the results of this
associations test get excess of the definitions that are most likely to violate the law over the
definition, which is unfavorable towards the violation of law. Such differential association’s
influence can be referred to as a function of its frequency, priority, duration and most
importantly intensity. The noncriminal and criminal behavior of the individuals is acquired in
that association by the similar learning mechanism. These both somehow satisfy the human
needs that are general along with the values and morale. On the other hand, ‘differential
associations’ determines the range to which an individual experience and promote the
motivation and learning by criminal’s rather than the influence of the noncriminal
individuals.
Sutherland had formulated his theory in a manner so that in that way many alleged
and actual correlates of crime; like family conflicts, poverty, slum residence and personality
disturbance can be related to criminal activities. These specific conditions, which may be

58SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
factors in the criminality I the individuals can affect the social relationships in order to
promote, being influenced by the criminals to restrict the influence of noncriminal individuals
on him. Dedicated attention to the social relationship of each individual’s social relationship
can explain why and how such correlates of crime like poverty and family conflict. From this
particular view of the theory of Sunderland, it can be said that the factors of individual and
criminal should affect the social relationships of an individual in order to promote the
person’s being influenced by criminals and also it restricts the influence of the noncriminal
individuals on that person. According to Sutherland, any kind o correlate f crime should be
shown to influence the learning experience of the persons if it can be thought of as having a
causative function in that individual’s criminality. It can be said that the critics of
Sutherland’s theories’ in general tend to overlook the integrating function of the theory and
the broad sense of the theory. The critics somehow misinterpreted his theory when they
suggested that he predicted that criminality would result with mechanical certainty in any
person whose contacts with the individuals with criminal mentality exceed the contacts with
the noncriminal individuals.
Sutherland has set forth a wide range of point of view to approach the understanding
of the criminals rather than creating a direct formula to predict crime. In contemporary
psychological terms, it can be said that what Sutherland might have had in his mind, would
be more appropriate if it is labeled with the term ‘differential identification’ or ‘differential
learning’. It somehow includes an idea of crime as a subclass of the totality of all the
deliberate actions of human beings just as something to be enlightened as other voluntary
behavior is explicated. It is totally dependent on the socio-psychological notion of actions
that are deliberate actions of the individuals as guided by the actors according to which
manner they have learned to rationalize their course of actions. An approach like this is
required to understand the behavior of the individuals that is convergent wit numerous

59SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
developments of sociology and psychology. It can be said that it is somewhat a deterministic
approach of crime as it ascribes an individual’s ability to predict his learning experiences and
yet it is considered as beg consistent with the conception that is legal, of crime as willful, as it
focuses on decision-making as a phenomenon to study further. This conception contrasts
heavily with the explanations for crime in terms of unconscious motivation, biological drives
or by the pressure of forces that are external; as such explanations does not trace the
connection among the alleged causes and consciously directed acts of crime.
In his theory Sutherland showed an abstract form which is apart from its illustration.
The illustrative chapters of his book regarding the processes in behaviors, which are, or
criminal mentality and the systems of behavior that are criminal too, convincingly explained
the ways in which the professional criminals get en-cultured into the life of crime, but he did
not explain the influences of associations that opposes crime. This negligence might reflect
the fact that it can be easier to study the behaviors of the criminals rather than the individuals
who are not criminal. As the criminals can be observed or studied quite conveniently when
they are detained or under supervision; on the other hand, the non-criminals cannot be studied
or observed in this way as they tend to hide their past. Thus it can be said that studying
individuals can be important to get a clear understanding crime. Thus, it can be said that the
most logical application of the theory of Sutherland appeared to be the traditional
enculturation explanation for crime; though it is abstract formulation suggests that it can be a
frame of reference regarding theoretically connecting the correlated conditions with specified
crimes to analyze the behavior of the noncriminal individuals and the process of correlation.
The sociological approach to the criminal justice and criminology became influential
during twentieth century. Both of these disciplines are closely related as sociology refers to
the basic study of the societal behavior, structures and system. Therefore while discussing the
mutual relation between criminal justice and sociology; it may be categorized into social-

60SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
process approach and social-structural approach. The social structural approach to the
criminal justice tries to evaluate the ways in which the societal structures and situations relate
to the criminal behavior of an individual. Most of the schools for this approach tend to define
the environmental and societal changes. For instance, it generally attempts describing why
some specific areas within a city may have a higher tendency for crime attack and these areas
are also known for less-energetic police enforcement. It is known that most of the urban areas
that are in the transition period from the former residential to the industry areas are primary
targeted. Some researchers also comment that this may occur as communities living in those
areas are generally disorganized, therefore they promote weak social standard as well.
Another societal structural approach finds its root back to the theories of Karl Marx which
found crime as an ultimate product of the constant conflict between the social classes in a
capitalist society. The Criminology Conflict theory indicates that the social laws tend to
emerge out of the social conflict situations than the consensus. It also suggests that the
criminal laws are made by only the ones who have the power in their hands for controlling
the ones who do not posses any kind of power. The theorists of this genre also point out that
the individuals who are committing serious crimes are not much different than the rest of the
population. There is no such fundamental difference between these two categories. Therefore
they consider that the society may be sometimes be categorized in non-criminals and
criminals in a complete dualistic fallacy, but it may also be a misguided notion. Furthermore
these theorists also propose that determining whether an individual is a criminal or a non-
criminal is frequently depends on the method the entire society reacts to the individuals who
have already deviated from the major social norms. Therefore it is also said that in most of
the cases, the poor people and the minorities are quickly considered as criminals, however
this is not much common in case of the wealthy and majority individuals. Another approach,
critical criminology also related the conflict criminology with the ideas of Marxism. This

61SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
theory is mostly dependable on the financial explanations of social behavior and also argues
that the social and financial inequalities tend to cause the criminal behavior. However it tends
to focus less on the individual study on criminals and also believes that these crimes cannot
be eradicated from the capitalist society. Therefore, like the conflict theory, this approach
also states that law is biased in favor of the ruling or the upper class of the society and the
legal system of the state tends to be in the favor of ruling class. These theorists also argue that
the environmental, political and corporate crimes are mostly unreported and addressed
insufficiently in the criminal justice procedure as this may include the ruling and wealthy
class as the guilty. The feminist criminologists also focus on the subordinate place of women
within the society. As stated by this school of criminologists, women always stay in an
inferior situation which is not at all rectified by the criminal law changes. These theorists
have also suggested that the criminal behavior in women may also be related to their
continuous objectification as products within the society. In addition to that many other
theorists dealing with this social structural approach also indicated towards the relationship
between the criminal behavior and family structure.
The other approach namely societal process criminology approach has tried
explaining the way people turns into criminals. This approach has also been developed
through the identification of the fact that people who are exposed to similar social structures
and social conditions are not always criminals. The learned behavior is mostly emphasized in
this theory. Control theory is another one which has also attempted in explaining the methods
of training people for engaging in a behavior that is law-abiding. Even though there are
several approaches in control theory, all of those share a common view that individuals need
continuous nurturing for developing bonds or attachments to the people around them. These
personal attachments are the key to provide internal control like guilt and conscience and the
external control like shame. Therefore it can be said that this approach proposes that crime is

62SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
an outcome of inadequate level of commitment and attachment to other people. There is
another version of control theory naming containment, developed by Walter C. Reckless. It
has been argued that a combined external societal containments and internal mental
containments tend to prevent individuals from diverging from the societal norms. The simple
communities are mostly the enforced by the social ostracism which is adequate for
controlling behavior. When the societies start turning into the complicated ones, the internal
containments become more significant factors as they define whether individuals are behaved
according to the public laws are not. Therefore these theorists have also indicated that the
internal containments also need a positive image of their own selves. However, more often
the alienation sense of the society and the social norms tend to form in the modern
individuals, therefore as a result to that they do not become capable of developing the internal
containments. Another theorist Travis Hirschi has also developed another approach of control
theory which tends to attempt for explain the lawful and conforming than the unlawful or
deviant. He also focuses on the significance of people’s bond with their surroundings to
determine their conforming behavior. He also indicated that the socioeconomic class do not
have to do much with determining the delinquent behavior and the young class who are not
much attached to their family or friends tend to have criminal behavior that the ones who are
strongly connected to their friends or family. This theory has also indicated that the young
people who have a positive and strong view of their success and accomplishments tend to
consider the laws of the society as a valid constraint of their behavior.
However, in exploring the relationship between the sociology and criminal justice and
criminology, it can be said that the intersection of both of these schools should be done in a
different way. Crime most of the times challenges the law and justice system, but law also
needs and expects crime to give the justification. Both need each other for their own
justification. However from the origin of the commission and anticipation of the legal acts

63SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
and from the outset of making laws and criminology through the control and management,
the criminal justice is thoroughly a legal topic, a fundamental feature of any legal procedure.
Considering the macro-social level and the basics if the sociological theories, it is found that
there is a huge variation within the society in terms of criminal justice, social solidarity and
crime. The law provides the integration and legitimacy by punishing and defining the threats
to the labor division, the minimal division of mechanical solidarity and labor rests on the
similar members and their contributions to each other and their well beings. If there is
complicated labor division, the criminal justice tends to act as a regulatory mechanism that
integrated and coordinates several contributions that are necessary for this continuous
function. Foucault also comments on the criminal law as a means of ordering and disciplining
the social variations mostly in the complicated societies. Foucault believes that punishment
does not really eradicate the offenses, rather he has hypothesized the functional foundation
for the patience of the criminal justice and punishment. The criminal law and justice tend to
act as one of the social mechanism that work for distinguishing amongst the offenders in
order to stratify and distribute them. Foucault also states that criminal justice is generally a
method of managing the illegalities and laying down the tolerance limit and putting severe
pressure on the individuals which sometimes fails to make few individuals gainful. Criminal
offense also reproduce and reflects the including the social structure. Law is considered to be
costly and the cost is generally distributed in accordance with the social status, class and the
social positions. There are not only the differential barriers for invoking the criminal justice,
but there is also differentiating costs for complying with the legal system and the capability
for passing along. Some theorists also suggest that crime is a normal, frequent and ordinary
act for some places. It should be noted that most people break or violate the laws at some
point of time; however all of them do not get criminal justice to that. These violations may be

64SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
trivial but they can often be injurious for other people. Therefore it can be said that criminal
offense is an essential component in everyday society.
Evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior
The evolutionary psychology gives a powerful instrument to understand the behavior
of the individuals and gives response to the criminal behavior. One instrument entails to
furnish the hypothesis regarding the psychological behavior that is underneath the criminal
activities. This happens because all the mechanisms that are psychological are plausibly be a
part of the chain that leads to various criminal behavior and gives response to it. This is
because all the psychological mechanisms need environmental input to activate them and
these incorporate a specified list of circumstances to which a particular criminal behavior is
most likely to be inhibited. A dissimilar set of instruments or tools can also be valuable and
that is how the evolutionary psychology provides value thatis heuristic to guide the
criminologists to examine the domains which are unexplored in a casual chain which can be
missed by criminology theories that are existing. In accordance to the evolutionary
psychology, all general behavior of humankind regardless of criminals and noncriminals are a
product of the psychological mechanisms that is combined with an environmental input that
can activate them or somehow inhibit their activation. The explanatory understanding of the
distribution and thickness of the calluses on the human skin lies within the individuals over
the time and across individuals regardless of the cultures over time that is required.
Though the evolutionary psychologists emphasize on the psychological adaptations
the logic that is interactionist has to be same. Thus the argument for the chief role of
evolutionary psychology to understand the psychology of the criminals can be arranged
syllogistically. All the human behavior at a basic level of description will be needing

65SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
psychological mechanisms and whatever they turn out to be, they owe their existence to
evolution by selection. If there is another process is present that can surely make a coplex
psychological adaptation that can be immensely complex and it will not be known to the
community of the scientists.
It can be said that various criminal behaviors such as assault, rape, robbery and
murder include a subset of human behavior and these take place in non-trivial rates and are
known cultures in patterns, which can be predicted. For an example, it can be said that in
each and every culture, various criminal behavior shows cross-culturally predictable sex
distribution and age. These types of criminal behavior are perpetrated various times more by
the male population than the female population. This situation dramatically increase when
the males enter the competition that is reproductive. They eventually decline with age and in
such way when the male rates approach female rates in older age. These types of criminal
conducts also take place at higher rates in between the men who are unmarried compared to
the males who are married; and among men who lack resources more than women who lack
the resources. It is worthwhile to mention that though women population is more likely to
suffer than men population and in general the males who experience financial troubles are
most likely to commit sorts of criminal activities. These are the chief findings regarding what
evolutionary psychology can shed light.
Ancestral adaptations operating in contemporary crime world
It is seen that the cross cultural evidence along with the pre-state traditional cultures is stuffed
with various evidences that includes behaviors like male on male assault, theft, domestic
violence, stalking and murder can be looked at as common criminal activities. It can be said
that the traditional cultures lacked relevant laws, inadequate police force and juries and there
were no concept of jailing too. Thus in most of the cases the victims of those sorts of

66SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
activities had to depend on the close friends or relatives for protection. Becoming allies for
the need of protection was not uncommon at traditional times. It is a matter of fact, that the
ancestral conditions were immensely conductive to various co-evolutionary arms races;
among those who persuaded strategies for exploitative resources acquisition.
Various evolutionary theories need numerous explanations regarding the criminal
behavior that involves the specific. In this regard, it can be said that the ultimate or specific
reasons are the significant features of the ancestral environment that can select specific
characteristics and observe in the present population with the help of the historical relation
they share with various reproductive success. The evolutionary theories are mostly
selectionist and environmental in orientation as the previous environment are somewhat
posited to have chosen characteristics of various organisms by acting at the level of the
individual genes. To be precise, it can be said that the genes that are associated with the
reproductive success can increase its frequency over time or over the generations. On the
other hand, it can be said that the effects of ultimate causes can be medicated and the
evolutionary theories are also to some extent environmental in a greater proximal sense as the
genes can significantly helps the organisms to act in a different manner in various
environmental situations or conditions. The behaviors can this identified by proximal sense
and those can be termed as facultative that opposes the obligate behaviors that can develop in
a significant manner in different environmental contexts. In this regard it is worth mentioning
that various characteristics of organisms get produced by adaptations and the adaptations can
be identified by the functional designs and their plausible relation to the reproductive success
and by the failure to account for them in a parsimonious way with different explanation. The
studies of evolutionary psychology regarding the mental adaptations can be seen in the
behavior due to the historical origin. Due to adaptations, it becomes less difficult to imagine
their presence is to prove necessitating a compact empirical and complex conceptual

67SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
approach for hypothesis tasting. It is a matter of fact, that a compact example can help to
understand the evolutionary psychology’s approach. It can be said that if a man can be
considered in an ancestral environment who prefers trees as sexual partners and it can hence
be summarized that the man is unlikely to be like our ancestors if his preferences for the trees
is seen as a result of the orientation of his genes. This is because the genes over time tends to
lose their frequency over the generations relative to the genes that has focused on the sexual
behavior of the males on the various characteristics that are interrelated with the human
female capacity for reproduction. Tis particular difference seen in reative reproductive
success can be seen as the root cause for the evolution of the male psychology that involves
the sexual preferences.
It is seen that crimes related to violence and theft represent the course of action in
which the victim’s and the perpetrator’s interests are significantly conflicting. Thus the
researcher may expect that a nepotistic difference can take place in the crimes. It can be said
that if someone commits a crime against the relatives it would be categorized by something
that is directly opposite to the nepotism. As the condition of the humankind has always been
social, it can be said that it involves the conflicts and alliances between the non-kin and kin.
As it should be expected that the idea of kinship are not at all dependent on the persons who
are involved being a person’s relative in a kinship will be expected to be necessary in another
person’s judgment for the actions of the non relatives too.
It is seen that majority of the criminal offenders initiate their careers in the criminal
path when they reach the mid twenties though there are many who show their antisocial
behavior in their childhood, but that is rare. The individuals who show criminal behaviors in
their childhood, are significantly responsible for inappropriate amount of criminal activities
that are present in the society. It can be said that in accordance with the longitudinal studies,
the taxonometric analyses had provided some evidences stating a there are a natural class of

68SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
persistently antisocial male offenders who can be identified by a measure of adolescence
criminal conduct, antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy.Quite similar analyses can
be identified that a discrete class of youth that is antisocial from the antisocial behaviors that
are self reported of ansampe that was unselected of 11 to 14 years old school students. It can
be said that genes play a significant role in influencing the variations in the criminal conduct
shared for effects of environment. Various evolutionary theorists have suggested that the
genes are immensely responsible forclass of persistently criminal or antisocial persons are
maintained in the population by selection that is dependent on the frequency. It can be said
that the selection that is frequency-dependent are the genes that confer a survival benefit at
low frequencies in population and not in higher frequencies. As an example, it can be said
that the genes are associated with non-reciprocating and exploitative approach,there should
be a social exchange that can prosper in the population of the strategists who are cooperative,
but it is a matter of fact that it would not be of any advantage in a population where there are
numerous cheaters. It can be said that the individual differences in antisociality might be
summarized as it is mentioned below;
 There are delinquents that tend to initiate behavior that is antisocial late and often
quit early. These types of behavior looks like a manifestation of mating effort and the
intermalecompetition as a response to the competitive disadvantage.
 A subset of these persons is more persistent and they show immense
neurodevelopment anomalies.
 A smaller group initiates criminal behavior earlier and in a more persistent way and
these persons seems to form a qualitatively dissimilar discrete class.
It is a matter of fact that criminology is a widely popular interdisciplinary subject as it
sheds light on a précised topic and that includes crimes and responses to the crimes rather
then being situated in a smaller domain of enquiry. The criminologists can draw a range

69SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
of academic disciplines for the further development of the theories in the field of
criminology. It can be said that though various psychological theories have been
neglected along with many biological factors, this research paper sheds light on various
evolutionary approaches with the presence of various criminology contexts.
Primarily, it can be said that the evolutionary approaches to some extent have become
significant and involves psychological science that is widely accepted. It is seen that though
the evolutionary psychology has not revolutionized the subject psychology in the way that
was visioned by Buss, but there are adequate critical literature regarding various
revolutionary approaches in behavioral studies. Human behavioral ecologists shed light on
the hunter-gatherer populations or on the small societies assuming that behavior of human
have evolved the capacity to adaptively adjust the behavior of those individuals to different
other ecological and cultural contexts.
By incorporating biosocial concepts, criminological theories may be extended and
even complemented. The etiological theories within the sphere and domain of criminal
behavior are constantly being reviewed, compared to the other existing theories, contrasts
being drawn, which all stem and draw from both the areas of standard social science theories
as well as evolutionary social sciences. The standard social sciences that gave birth to
etiological theories include classical theories, positivist theories, functionalism, an in depth
look into the different cultures and sub-cultures, different social learning theories, control
theories, cognitive theories and other traditional theories that deal with trying to explain
different personalities among people. The evolutionary social science theories that have been
the origin of the etiological theories are behavioral genetic theories, epigenetic and reactive
heritability theories, theories on sexual selection, different parental investment theories,
competitive disadvantage theories and pathogen stress theories. Life history theories are also
important in terms of analyzing the etiological theories that try to establish a connection

70SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
between evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior. However, these theories are mostly
mutually contradictory up to a certain minimal degree, and only differ on matters of detail
and also on the different aspects of causality.
Criminology, for a long time, has been accepted as a field to interest scholars for a
long time. Even then, our fundamental understanding as to what may cause a person to
commit a crime is still not very clear to date. There are detailed theories and criminological
hypotheses that try to establish concrete theories, but these are yet to be tested. The theories
are vastly differing and often do not apply to every instance. Generalized theories are a
necessity when trying to understand a certain phenomenon. The evolutionary approach to
understand criminology and explaining the behavioral patterns of the people who commit
violent crime have more or less been ignored. The integration of evolutionary theory to
criminology can help scholars to have a more definitive understanding as to why do people
act violently at times and may give new perspectives and benefit criminal psychology studies
to great lengths.
Many criminologists who have been working on the subject from the evolutionary
perspective try to theorize violent crimes using evolution as the key point to analyze criminal
behavior, with a firm focus on violent criminal activities37. It has been noticed, across
everywhere in the world, that males are more susceptible to committing a violent crime than a
female. The males have always shown great variety in their tendency to care for their off
springs. This variation can be largely attributed to genetic factors: some men are more
biologically tuned to care for their children, while others are simply less inclined to dedicate
much time into the same. The men who are more willing to care for their children, often do
37 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.

71SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
not have much problem to get a mate as they are viewed to be as a desirable person to have
children with38. On the other hand, the men who are less interested to look after and raise
their children often find this difficult. These males have been seen very likely to be criminal
perpetrators. However, arguments are made that it is much more psychology and social
conditioning, rather than simple gender based observations, that contribute the most to an
occurrence of a criminal act.
There are also other theories including this theory that try to give plausible reasons to
criminal activities. Child abuse has been largely integrated into criminal behavior and the
evolutionary perspectives to this is a major source of scholarly observations. Research has
shown that humans are much more potent to harming their step children rather than harming
their own biological children. From an evolutionary perspective, this may be thought to be
genetic related, as humans think their step children to be less like them than their biological
children. There are less genetic similarities between a person and her or his step children,
which makes them feel less connected to them, and in turn opens up more possibilities of
harm and abusive relationship between a step child and the step parent39. People who harm
their close genetic relatives are less likely to pass on their genes to the next generation,
compared to those who harm distant gene relatives or those who they are not related to
genetically. However, this does not at all mean that violence does not occur among people
who are very close genetically: child abuse is one of the most significant examples of this.
38 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.
39 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.

72SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Despite the fact that modern day world does not see many step parents harming or abusing
their step children, theoretically, it is the most possible option among harming biological
children and step children.
When discussing the evolutionary point of view of criminal activity, genes are most
certainly the most significant aspect. To put things into a better perspective, no human
behavioral pattern or trait can establish itself unless a genetic coding is not present in the
entire situation. This means that some people are more likely to perform some criminal
activity more than others because their genes are more likely to be programmed in such a
manner. Behavioral genetics and molecular genetics are the two approaches that are used by
scholars to explore this gene related possibility of violent activities. Behavioral genetics has
helped scientists to separate genetic and environmental influences on a human being to
distinguish among different behavioral patterns and understand which factor is more
imposing on a specific behavioral trait, especially violent crimes. Whatever may be the
difference among scholars on how much is the actual impact of these factors, it is agreed
upon by all that the influence of genetics on aggression and violent crime is significant.
Various evolutionary theorists have suggested that the genes are immensely
responsible for criminal behavior. While researching on the individual criminal
responsibility, it can be seen that the concept is a core idea of all the criminal laws that allow
the researchers to consider an individual responsible for her or his conduct or even justify
their punishment. The idea of criminal responsibility emphasizes on the mental state of a
person, mostly what the convicted thought, knew or perceived. These primarily come from
the political or social context of the individual40. However, in this context, genetic science has
40 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.

73SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
focused on the influence of the genes on the individual behavior that can be promising or
threatening for rendering criminal behavior. The researchers have also suggested that
common environmental influences along with genetics are crucial factors in constant
antisocial behavior. Therefore it can also be said that the findings of such researches are not
compatible enough with the previous beliefs regarding the individual choice of a person
which is also the foundation of criminal law. The genetic science definitely challenges the
criminal law, as it is not really desirable or possible ignoring the developments in scientific
knowledge. Several evidences all over the world suggest that many times the findings of
genetic science have been brought by the defense counsel to the courtroom for mitigating the
sentencing. Therefore it can be suggested that the influences of such evidences are modest
and it can be integrated into the current criminal practices. The evolutionary theorists have
also suggested that the genes can be accountable for the distinct and continuous criminal
behavior in individuals which are mostly maintained within the population by the selection
that is depended on frequency. This suggests that the genes tend to confer a survival or
reproductive benefit at a lower frequency in population but necessarily not at the high
frequency. For instance, the genes that are related with the non-reciprocating or exploitative
approach to the societal changes may flourish in the inhabitants of correlative social strategy
but will not be of an kind of greater advantages within the population that have already been
composed by cheaters41. This also suggest that the criminal behavior of limited adolescent is a
facultative response to the competitive disadvantages whereas the lifetime constant criminal
behavior is also an obligate strategy that has been caused genetically. Therefore, it can be
said that if this theory is right, the constant criminal behavior is not a mere outcome of
41 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.

74SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
pathology, rather the criminal behavior has a lifelong history and a measurable development
in humans. According to this notion, the persistent criminal behavior is an obligate strategy
and the researchers have found that the offenders who have not been rated having higher
psychopathic disorder were not at all recognizable from the other subjects; however the les
psychopathic offenders have shown a great fluctuating asymmetry.
In addition to that it should also be noted that genetics is one of the latest scientific
specialization which has threatened or promised taking the debate of criminal behavior and
responsibility. Neuroscience, on the other hand, with its capability for producing the living
picture of a human brain and cognitive psychology with its sheer insight in the high mental
process have similar claim regarding this. There have been several evidences of the
environmental and biological explanations of criminal behavior. The genetic explanations for
such criminality can be traced back where the researches focused on the XYY chromosome
abnormality and it revealed the controversial links between the criminal behavior and
genetics. The individuals who are genetically normal have forty six chromosomes and a pair
of sex chromosomes which is XX for normal female body and XY for normal male body.
The chromosomal abnormality for XYY has been emphasized in the study of violent and
criminal behavior as the additional Y chromosome tends to suggest that there can be
exaggerated aggressiveness, maleness or violence in that individual. However this logic was
not really successful in defending the criminal behavior, as most of the courts did not accept
the casual link between the aggressive behavior and additional Y chromosome and this could
be the only justification of the legal insanity. However, many researchers have considered
this evidence of direct link between the criminal behavior and chromosomal disorder.
Researchers suggest that having an extra Y chromosome have also triggered the

75SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
psychological and intellectual functioning, not only influenced the super-male behavior42. In
addition to that, there are several studies which may also suggest that there may be some
evidences which suggest that the extra Y chromosome may be responsible in triggering
violent behavior, but there are also other evidences where the additional chromosome did not
cause any kind of abnormality. Therefore the criminology primarily dismissed the notion of
chromosomal dysfunction as a reason for criminal behavior.
Several evidences also indicate that most of the criminal behavior starts in the mi-
adolescence period and the individuals are mostly triggered to start off their criminal careers
at this stage. However there are also evidences that show that there are some individuals who
tend to show the serious criminal behavior from their childhood which later persist in the
criminal behavior in their adult age, therefore these are finally accountable for the great
disproportion iin the criminal activity43. According to the findings of studies, there are also
evidences that suggest that the distinct natural class of the determinedly criminal adult male
offenders can be recognized from some of the measures of the antisocial conduct, criminal
personality disorder and psychopathy in the adolescent period. Several analysis have also
suggested that the there is a distinct class of the young people who exhibit criminal behavior
amongst the school boys44. However in a twin study of criminal behavior, it has been found
42 Whitehead, Andrew L., and Samuel L. Perry. "Unbuckling the Bible belt: A state-level
analysis of religious factors and Google searches for porn." The Journal of Sex Research 55.3
(2018): 273-283.
43 Whitehead, Andrew L., and Samuel L. Perry. "Unbuckling the Bible belt: A state-level
analysis of religious factors and Google searches for porn." The Journal of Sex Research 55.3
(2018): 273-283.
44 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.

76SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
out that the genes have played a key role in triggering the criminal behavior and variations in
the criminal conducts. Common situational impacts such as being nurtured in a specific
neighborhood or a family tend to be less significant in this matter. Therefore neuropathy also
suggests that, be it environmental effects or the genes, both have huge influence on the
aggressive and criminal behavior.
To understand specifically which genes are involved in this, molecular genetics
studies is the mode of study for the scientists. This study tries to separate specific genes and
observe their influences on the human behavioral patterns. It is seen that violence and
criminal activities were present in the human society from the Abel and cane’s age and
individuals have this been intrigued by what makes an individual to eventually become a bad
influence in the society or they becomes a person with criminal mentality45. These people are
widely categorized as psychopaths and considered that they do not have normal human
feelings or emotions. These types of individuals are seen to have been engaged in activities
like breaking the social norms, they lack morality and does not frequently socialize46. It is a
matter of fact that nowadays psychopathy is categorized as criminal mentality among
individuals, stereotyping in this manner can lead to many misjudgment, and that can invoke
various social issues. Various researches in this field showed that the adopted children born
to offenders portrayed higher criminal and anti-social behaviors47. On the other hand, when
45 Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity
Press, 2014.
46 Duwe, Grant, et al. "Bible college participation and prison misconduct: A preliminary
analysis." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 54.5 (2015): 371-390.
47 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.

77SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
children are born to the parents who have been convicted for any kinds of crimes related to
property, are more inclined towards being engaged in violent criminal activities. It is seen
that the similarities among the children with genetic parents are genetic influence when the
similarities with the adopted parents are environmental influences. It is worth mentioning that
the studies of adoption can become eventually complicated by some factors like difference in
the socio-economic status from the birth and from the adoptive parents.
Biologically, it can be said that, neuro-chemicals, like monoamine oxidase,
norepinephrine, secrotonin and dopamine are significantly responsible for portrayal of
behaviors that can be labeled as anti-social behavior48. Lower levels of monoamine oxidase
are linked with anti-social behavior and aggression, impulsivity and other unnatural and
antisocial behavior are responsible for elements like epinephrine, norepinephrine and many
more; these elements are responsible for various factors of personality in the psychosis.
Dopamine can be related with predatory aggression in individuals and also with the
emotional drives; apart from that dopamine is also responsible for attention deficit
syndrome49. On the other hand, various studies showed that dopamine plays a significant role
behind the anxiety, depression and isues like bipolar disorder and behavioral disorder50.
48 Duwe, Grant, et al. "Bible college participation and prison misconduct: A preliminary
analysis." Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 54.5 (2015): 371-390.
49 Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity
Press, 2014.
50 Lam, Joseph. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a
Religious Concept. Oxford University Press, 2016.

78SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
These results validate the fact that genes has a significant role to determine the characteristics
of individuals that can lead them to commit activities that are antisocial or to show antisocial
behavior.
Psychologically it can be said that an abnormality exist in the nervous system of many
individuals that makes them unable to feel any kind of arousal emotionally; such as fear,
guilt, empathy, anxiety or the ability to react against any threat. This inadequacy of
physiological arousal is what differentiates an individual with APD from other individuals.
Apart from that individuals with APD are seen to have lesser gray matter and they have an
impaired frontal-lobe functioning51. This particular area of the brain is hugely responsible for
controlling impulse or helps to plan something. Damage in brain also results in impairment of
the frontal lobes. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that earlier it was believed that
individuals, male individuals who have an extra y chromosome were more inclined towards
showing violent behavior but it was not proved scientifically.
Although the above mentioned facts are helping to understand the role of genetics
becoming a factor to influence the criminal behavior, but the role of environment cannot be
denied. It can be said that peers and family nurtures the behaviors of an individual and it is
seen that influence of family or the known circle of people immensely influence the behavior
of the individuals52. It is a matter of fat that the family members can influence the kids with
hyperactive nature with ADHD and the general upbringing of the child, social and financial
51 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
52 Lam, Joseph. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a
Religious Concept. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Lam, Joseph. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a
Religious Concept. Oxford University Press, 2016.

79SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
status of the family along with the surrounding that immensely influence the individuals to
choose either the path of honest and regular life or the path of anti-social activities53. It can be
said that the social learning theory shows that the children are very observant and they gets
influenced by the behavior of the individuals around them and tends to adopt that behavior.
The families where the family members are quite aggressive in nature generally lack
discipline and necessary techniques to monitor the upbringing of the child members of the
family and that leads to violent and anti-social behavior of the criminals54. In this regard, it is
also important to mention that the peers are also significantly responsible for influencing
individuals to adopt anti-social behaviors. It is seen that whenever young generation shows
behavior that can be labeled as anti-social behavior, chances are high that they are influenced
by their peers and that resulted in the reinforcements of such behaviors that are not at all
accepted by the society. The PEN model of Eyesenck is dependent on the psychotism,
neurotism and extraversion. It can be said that psychotism is linked with the various traits of
impersonal, aggressive, antisocial and unemathetic attitude of the individuals. Extraversion
can be associated with socialable, active carefree and dominant attitude of the individuals55.
Eyesenck used to believe that psychotism could be defined as the basic difference between
53 Lam, Joseph. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a
Religious Concept. Oxford University Press, 2016.
54 Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity
Press, 2014.
55 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.

80SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
non-criminals and criminals56. The extraversion can be seen as a better predictor for the
young individuals and it can predict bettr neuroticism for the elder individuals. It has been
seen that the arousal levels in the brain, which are lower, like sleepiness and lack of interest,
can be related to various behaviors that are criminal in nature. Criminality can be defined in
many ways and to be precise, it can be said that depending on the first prior conviction and
diagnosis of the antisocial personality of the individual criminality can be determined. In this
regard, it is worth mentioning that inadequate proper definition of criminality has allowed the
incorporation of any types of illegal activities into the analyses of the researcher. The studies
of adoption have made an approach that is direct towards the partition of criminal behavior57.
It can be said that crime can be divided into two parts; one s adopter’ study method and the
other one is adopter’s family method.
Schulsinger, Hutchings and Mednick initially utilized adopter’s family method. They
eventually matched 57 psychopathic adoptees with another 57 psychopathic adoptees based
on the characteristics like age, social class, age and adoptive age. It is a matter of fact that the
relative to the biological fathers of the adoptees of noncriminal control group, the biological
fathers of the criminally convicted individuals have been seen to have served as an impetus
for relevant adoption studies while examining the relation between crime and heredity58. The
56 Lam, Joseph. Patterns of Sin in the Hebrew Bible: Metaphor, Culture, and the Making of a
Religious Concept. Oxford University Press, 2016.
57 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
58 Schuilenburg, Marc. The securitization of society: Crime, risk, and social order. NYU
Press, 2017.

81SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
hereditary factors do not play a significant role in genesis of criminal behavior and can be
raised during the efflorescence of interest in genetics and heredity. It can be man ar said that
criminality in man are inborn and the environment or the parenting does not influence that
trait, though there are no valid research work that can validate this statement, but it is widely
believed by a section of the social researchers59. It can be said that a relation between violent
crime and predisposition was reported in the year of 1993 when several male showed a
borderline mental disorder in a Dutch Kindred and that included disturbed regulation of
impulsive aggression.
It is a matter of fact that behavioral genetics’ field is elucidating the interplay among
environment and genes. The scientific data pertaining to the behavioral genetics of violent
behavior gives a context to an age old dilemma related to the criminal responsibility and
punishment60. The question arises in this context is that how it can affect the punishment for
crime and how it might be seen as an aggravating factor61. The increased involvement of the
psychiatrists to give testimony for behavioral genetics in criminal and justice system is a
59 Whitehead, Andrew L., and Samuel L. Perry. "Unbuckling the Bible belt: A state-level
analysis of religious factors and Google searches for porn." The Journal of Sex Research 55.3
(2018): 273-283.
60 Schuilenburg, Marc. The securitization of society: Crime, risk, and social order. NYU
Press, 2017.
61 Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity
Press, 2014.

82SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
noticeable feature nowadays of the criminology and this research paper shows the necessary
background for the topic.
It is a matter of fact that judicial decision making is all about the sorts of sentences to
impose is not all the time a simple matter as each and every trial is unique and the sentencing
the offenders or the antisocial is not as easy as it looks like62. This section of this research
shows the definition of sentencing and explains the process of sentencing. Nowadays
sentencing has eventually become a chief concern for the individuals who think that a major
reform in the judicial system is required63. It can be said that recently the federal government
of United States of America and various states of America have passed a new legislation as a
response to the criticism against the present practices of sentencing and are looked at as
offensive and discriminatory in accordance with race, gender and ethnicity64. There are four
prevalent sorts of schemes of sentencing were present and those can be termed as
determinate, interdetermine, guidelines based and mandatory65. It is seen that one of the
major part of sentencing is the hearing of the trial where the judges receive an opportunity to
weigh the mitigation circumstances that can anyhow influence the impact of the sentence..In
62 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
63 Bradford, Richard. Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 429. Oxford University
Press, USA, 2015.
64 Schuilenburg, Marc. The securitization of society: Crime, risk, and social order. NYU
Press, 2017.
65 Bennett, Zoë. Using the Bible in practical theology: historical and contemporary
perspectives. Routledge, 2016.

83SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
the hearing the supporters of the convict and the offender, both get chances to speak on their
favorable person’s behalf or for the best interest of that individual. After listening to
everything from both the parties of the offender and the convict, the judge acts according to
the law and takes decision. There are instances where the option of sentencing may be
challenged by other judges and the sentences include jailing or probation on some forced
conditions. Sentencing can be described as an imposition of punishment on an individual who
is suspected to be the victim. It is a matter of fact that there had to be some targets or agendas
behind the sentencing and those are to reflect the seriousness of the issue, in order to
promote the cause to increase respect for the law, to punish the convict and also with a motto
to transform the convict into a nice person and to bring him or her to the path of honesty and
honor66.
It is seen that whenever a convict gets sentenced the judges send an information to the
community of the criminals and when the verdict and the sentence is lenient, that message
states that the offenders would not be punished brutally67. These practices lead many
antisocial to believe that they can get away with further criminal activities and the
punishment they will receive will be mild in nature68. Thus the judges try to promote the
66 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
67 Whitehead, Andrew L., and Samuel L. Perry. "Unbuckling the Bible belt: A state-level
analysis of religious factors and Google searches for porn." The Journal of Sex Research 55.3
(2018): 273-283.
68 Bradford, Richard. Crime Fiction: A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 429. Oxford University
Press, USA, 2015.

84SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
respect of the society for law by trying to impose appropriate sentences that will be
comparatively according to the severity of the crime committed.
Thus it can be said that that criminology and crime these are one of the most
important and complex topics of discussion. The evidences of various crimes are noted from
the ages of Bible and there are ample of biblical references regarding the crime and the
consequences69. The main research objective was to find out the Biblical perceptions
regarding jailing, prison and various types of sentencing70. To sum up it can be said that
sentencing was a popular concept in the Biblical times and a consequence for an act of crime
is a justified action. Though it was synthesized from the literature of this research paper that
in ancient times there were no popular concept of jailing and the system of prisoning was not
as popular as it grew from the end of middle ages. The Middle Ages was famous for the
advent of the concept of jailing and brutal torture became a popular action against any kinds
of crimes 71. In the middle ages the concept of jailing was not at all something that anyone
would ask for. In most of the times the imprisoned individual’s life expectancy was reduced
by at least one third due to unimaginably unhygienic conditions of those dungeons. From the
time of industrialization, the concept off jailing started to change and the imprisoned
69 Wortley, Richard, and Michael Townsley, eds. Environmental criminology and crime
analysis. Vol. 18. Taylor & Francis, 2016.
70 Bennett, Zoë. Using the Bible in practical theology: historical and contemporary
perspectives. Routledge, 2016.
71 Agnew, Robert. "Race and youth crime: Why isn’t the relationship stronger?." Race and
Justice 6.3 (2016): 195-221.

85SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
population is also human resources that fact became popular. At that point, of time the
concept of prisoners became somewhat similar to the concept of slaves. When the
industrialization took place, the prisoners became useful human resources and the hard labour
generated from the prisoners helped the economy of many nations72. In contemporary times
it can be said that a major structural change in the concept of jailing and sentencing is in
practice as nowadays crime and criminology along with their parallel notions and concepts
are looked at from a matured scientific way that has metamorphosed the old concept from
many ways. Nowadays the prisoners are kept where all the human rights are maintained and
they get ample chances to return back to the normal path of life73. Frequent counseling and
keeping under observations can help the cases in many ways. The focus of today’s sentencing
options are not to punish the convict brutally for the act he or she committed but to help the
convict to realize the severity of the crime committed by the individual and also to help the
person to return to normal life depending on the severity of the crime committed74. Thus, it
can be said that a drastic change can be observed in the field of imprisoning, jailing and
various types of sentencing from the biblical times and the approach has been changed
significantly. Thus it can be said that the concept of sentencing has become more scientific
72 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.
73 Agnew, Robert. "Race and youth crime: Why isn’t the relationship stronger?." Race and
Justice 6.3 (2016): 195-221.
74 Gottwald, Norman K. Ideology, Class, and the Hebrew Bible. Wipf and Stock Publishers,
2018.

86SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
that have the power to help the convicts to realize the severity of the crime, to punish them as
well as to help them to return to normal path of life in a scientific way75.
75 Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. InterVarsity
Press, 2014.

87SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Theories of Slavery
Nieboer-Domar hypothesis suggests that the slave systems have emerged when the
labors are in short supply. In simpler terms, this hypothesis suggests that landowners who do
not work at a land rich environment make them labor owners, which in turn, prevents their
workers to exit. This led to the slavery systems and the emergence of the serfs. The labor
control, instead of land ownerships seemed to be the marker of status as well as power and a
major source of wealth. On the contrary, the availability of the labors in the land scarce
environment and also the absence of the alternative sources kept the value of individual
labors low, which made it easier to control and hire wage laborers76.
The model of Nieboer-Domar has proven to be remarkably durable and several
modifications are being made to this by various scholars of slavery. Evsey D. Domar
provided first fundamental criticism and he noted that the land labor ratio is a primary factor
of determining the overall degree of freedom of the labors. In addition to this, the workers
and the landlords exist in the polities, which is a broader term for the political communities.
This includes nation states, states and kingdoms. The politics determine the extent by which
the landowners exploit their slaves or labors77. The slave system requires the polity to support
and defend the overall right of the landowners to transport and trade their slaves as well as
control the enslaved labors.
76 Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: A problem in American institutional and intellectual life. University of Chicago
Press, 2013.
77 Stuckey, Sterling. Slave culture: Nationalist theory and the foundations of Black America. Oxford University
Press, 2013.

88SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The polity also regulates, taxes the trade and uses all the military resources in order to
support it. The support includes aiding the slave owners and suppressing the slave rebellions.
In addition to this, it also includes providing legal framework which defines slavery, enforces
discipline on the slaves and also punishing the runaways. Moreover, this hypothesis
emphasizes on the slavery which they believe is solely a response to the economic incentives.
These are related to various factors like availability of the lands and other economic factors.
For an example; the Ottoman slavery suggested that not all the slavery systems were centered
to the overall control of the Agrarian labor. Some slaves also provided administrative,
military, sexual or domestic services78.
The model do not emphasize on the societies like Ottoman Empire, where primarily
the slaves were being employed in those roles. This also suggests different forms of un-
freedom as pointed out by David Northrup. These were also not related to the resource labor
pressures; instead it had relations with the ideological and social ones. In addition to this, it
had restrictions upon several activities and rights which were based on the race, ethical
origin, gender and religion of the individual slaves. More specifically, several critics argued
that the most basic form explains the varying benefits as well as costs of different labor forms
and also their relationship with the resources, which was not adequately being explained in
the model79.
In the modern capitalist system, the workers may organize or go on strike in order to
create an artificial shortage of labors, which has got nothing to do with the absolute number
of workers and their relation with the capital. On the other hand, the capitalists may respond
78 Hatch, Mary Jo. Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university
press, 2018.
79 Ritzer, George, and Jeffrey Stepnisky. Modern sociological theory. SAGE Publications, 2017.

89SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
to this by adopting the labor saving tactics or coercing the workers, rather than getting into
the demands of the strike. However, the labor saving tactics help in reducing the reliance on
the labor force. The free wage labors in the factories were very often coerced in several ways
and also they were purposefully being drawn from the populations those were considered to
be more docile as well as less able to resist the harsh conditions of the labors80.
This particular theory of the free wage labor system also did not fit into the Nieboer-
Domar model. Several historians have found it highly useful to historicize the overall concept
of the slavery checking its evolution over space as well as time. This allows them to define
the concept of slavery by comparing the fundamentals of various slave systems. Many of
them traced out the origin of the chattel slavery, which is regarded as the most extreme form
of the slavery in the ancient times. This was done to treat the enemy captives as a property of
the conquerors in the warfare. Those captives stopped to be the members of the independent
community and rather they became the physical property of the captors81.
The prisoners of the war were more often seen as the ones who have lost their basic
right of individuality and personhood in the community of the conquerors. However, in the
inception of the slave trade of Atlantic, the slaves were being sold to the Portuguese traders in
the early sixteenth century. At this time, slavery was being seen as a humane option for the
war prisoners. From the ancient times to the modern ones, other than slavery, immediate
execution was seen as another option to punish the prisoners. Orlando Patterson in his book
‘Slavery and Social Death’ has mentioned slavery in the terms of socio and political
80 Crane, Andrew. "Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for
human exploitation." Academy of Management Review 38.1 (2013): 49-69.
81 Sue, Derald Wing, and David Sue. Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice. John Wiley &
Sons, 2012.

90SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
relationships as well as power dynamics in the human societies. Instead of focusing on the
economic system of slavery, Patterson preferred referring the term with power dynamics and
socio-political segments82.
The book comprised various theories and concepts of the then slavery systems. He
mentioned that all the human relationships are defined and well structured by the power of
interacting personnel. In addition to this, Patterson compared the theories, with a number of
slave bonding societies that came across. He defined slavery as the most extreme form of
domination, which gives ultimate power to the master and limits the power of the slaves.
According to him, slavery involved natal alienation that is the complete removal of
community and family bonding and ties. This left the slaves with no options and they had no
legal and social protection as well as the abilities of passing on the property or rights83.
Theories and causes of crime
There is no particular cause of crime. Crime keeps on changing according to the
situations and according to the cultural background that the criminals belong to. There are
certain activities that are legal in one country and the same are illegal in another country. For
example, drinking wine is legal in the western countries but it is illegal in the Muslim
countries84. The behaviors that are termed as criminal offence sometimes can be changed and
82 Crane, Andrew. "Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for
human exploitation." Academy of Management Review 38.1 (2013): 49-69.
83 Stuckey, Sterling. Slave culture: Nationalist theory and the foundations of Black America. Oxford University
Press, 2013.
84 Downes, David, Paul Rock, and Eugene McLaughlin. Understanding deviance: a guide to
the sociology of crime and rule-breaking. Oxford University Press, 2016.

91SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
are termed as criminal offence. Culture and behavior keeps on changing with time. Crime
therefore has no exact definition. This is the reason there is no specific reason for crime.
There are two basic theories of crime;
a) Biological theories
b) Sociological theories
Biological theories
The biological theory consists of the fact that there are some people who are criminal
by their birth. They are psychologically different from the non-criminals. Cesare Lombroso is
the eminent personality who did put forward this approach. He drew on the ideas of Charles
Darwin. He suggested that the criminals were atavistic. He came up with the thought that the
brains of the criminals were not fully developed. Their brains were under developed. While
making a research he found that the criminals had similar physical features like sloping
forehead and receding chin. The biological trait had a major role to play in committing a
crime. The criminals were born with specific biological trait. He suggested that involvement
in crime was a product of biological characteristics85. According to this theory the criminals
were born with specific biological characteristics. His theory supports the theory of biological
positivism. The contemporary studies have focused on measuring the biological theories that
have continued to develop. It consists of few contemporary approaches;
 Biochemical conditions – this consists of poor diet and poor hormonal condition.
 Neurophysiological conditions – this is the disabilities caused due to the damage that
has occurred in the brain.
85 Cornish, Derek B., and Ronald V. Clarke, eds. The reasoning criminal: Rational choice
perspectives on offending. Transaction Publishers, 2014.

92SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
 Genetic inheritance – this is the abnormality that occurs in the gene.
 Intelligence.
These attempts are designed to target the causes of crime that lies within every individual.
This suggests that there are identified differences between offenders and non-offenders. The
criminal is treated as the other one in the society that is the criminal is different from a
normal individual in the society86.
Sociological theories
The sociological theory suggests that the cause of the crime is highly reliable on the external
factors like the neighborhood, the peer group and sometimes even the family. The
sociological theory of crime includes the contemporary theories of crime, place and space.
Some of them are:
 It consists of defensible space theory which examines in which the physical space is
responsible for the crime87.
 It consists of the broken window theory. This theory looks into the relationship
between the low level disorder and crime.
 It further consists of the routine activities theory. This considers the way the
opportunities are shaped by the people and between the people and by the everyday’s
movement of the people through space and time88.
86 Thornberry, Terence, ed. Developmental theories of crime and delinquency. Routledge,
2018.
87 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.
88 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.

93SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
 The theory of Anomie comes to the forefront in this case. This concept was developed
by eminent sociologist named Emily Durkheim. This theory was formed to explain
the collapse of the social norms that mostly accompanies the social change that is
quick and rapid. Robert Merton was another sociologist who drew his thought upon
the same theory and explained the concepts like crime and deviance in USA. His
theory revealed the fact that there are chances of the occurrence of crimes when there
are gaps between the cultural goals of the society and the structural means of the
society89. The cultural goal includes the material, wealth and status of a person. On the
other hand the structural means includes education and employment. This damage
between means and goals of a society results in bitterness and frustration. This leads
some people to take the help of illegal means to gain success in life. This theory is
also known as the strain theory. This theory finally suggests that the cultural values
and the social structure of society encourage the individuals to commit crimes90.
 There is another theory that is the subcultural theory. This has a connection with the
theory of Anomie theory. The crime according to this theory comes from frustration.
The theory further states that the difference of culture and the status compels the
criminals to commit the crime. This majorly can be seen in the classrooms among the
peer groups and among the people of same age group. They usually engage
themselves in delinquent activities like smoking, drinking and acting up in class.
According to the researchers this is because of the different opportunities that are
offered to the people of different classes.
89 McShane, Marilyn, ed. An Introduction to Criminological Theory. Routledge, 2013.
90 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.

94SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
 Strict control theory is another theory that can be mentioned in this context. This
theory does not focus on the cause of the crime rather it focuses on the reason of
obeying the law by the people. In other words it focuses on conformity and not on
deviance91. It states that people generally conform to the social norms due to the
strong social bonds. There are certain key concepts of the social bonds;
a) Attachment is the first and foremost concept. This factor determines how strong or
weak the relationship of every individual with each other is. This expects certain
kind of behavior from every individual like the obeying of the laws. An individual
expects the certain amount of legal behavior from the other with who he or she
has a relation. The intensity of the expectation gets stronger than the intensity of
the relation. The individuals are expected to obey the law and abide by those as it
is considered to be under the social norm. Therefore stronger attachment would
enable the individual to maintain all the laws and the rules of the society92.
b) Commitment is an essential aspect of the life of an individual. Commitment leads
an individual to abide by certain norms in life. Commitment towards marriage
relation or being a parent or working in any office makes a person more
responsible towards the relationships and the commitments in his life93. The fear
91 Lorenc, Theo, et al. "Crime, fear of crime, environment, and mental health and wellbeing:
mapping review of theories and causal pathways." Health & place 18.4 (2012): 757-765.
92 Yarbrough, Angela, et al. "Social learning and self-control: Assessing the moderating
potential of criminal propensity." International Journal of Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology 56.2 (2012): 191-202.
93 Wilson, James. Thinking about crime. Basic Books (AZ), 2013.

95SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
of losing the people and the relationships he had in his life makes him more
responsible94. The involvement in crime might result in losing his family and the
relationships that he has in his life. His lifestyle leads him to obey the laws and
stay away from all the crimes95.
c) Involvement is an important component in this case. Time is a major factor in this
case. It is assumed that the more time the individual spends engaging in breaking
of the law, the less time he or she would take to engage in the behavior of
breaking the law96.
d) The final aspect of the theory is belief. It is depended on the upbringing of the
individual. In case where the individuals are brought up to break the rules they
will break the rules in their future. On the other hand when the individuals are
taught to break the rules they would do the same while staying in the society97.
 The other theory is the right realism theory which is also known as the rational choice
theory. This theory is in favor of the fact that criminals are not bound by anybody’s
94 Sellers, Christine Sharon, Latham T. Winfree, and Ronald L. Akers, eds. Social Learning
Theories of Crime. Ashgate, 2012.
95 Jang, Sung Joon, and Jeremy R. Rhodes. "General strain and non-strain theories: A study of
crime in emerging adulthood." Journal of Criminal Justice 40.3 (2012): 176-186.
96 Eck, John E., and David L. Weisburd. "Crime places in crime theory." (2015).
97 Akers, Ronald L. Criminological theories: Introduction and evaluation. Routledge, 2013.

96SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
decision. They have the full right to make their own decision. They are capable
enough to take their own decision98.
Difference between deviance and crime
Man is a social being and therefore he is expected to abide by certain norms of the
society. The norms are designed to bring a discipline in the society. The norms are formed to
keep a check in the behavior of human beings. Every individual is expected to abide by the
norms in order to avoid themselves from committing a crime or getting socially deviated. In
case a social being is found to deviate from accepting the social norm he is punished under
law. The laws have been formulated that punishes the individual who are found guilty of
committing the crime. The laws bring an order in the society and it avoids every individual
from deviance and crime. There is however a difference between crime and deviance.
Criminal behavior or the crime comes with the deviance of any individual. There are
similarities as well as deviance between crime and deviance.
The differences are:
In order to understand the difference between it is important to understand the meaning of
crime and deviance.
Crime: The modern society is governed by the laws and the rules and regulations that are
shaped to keep the society free from all the crimes. The individuals are expected to abide by
the norms and the rules that are formed. They should be followed by every individual. These
laws are formulated by the elected legislators in the assembly. The people who refuse to
98 Gottfredson, Michael R., and Travis Hirschi. "The criminal career perspective as an
explanation of crime and a guide to crime control policy: the view from general theories of
crime." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 53.3 (2016): 406-419.

97SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
abide by the laws and who refuse to accept those indulge themselves into some amount of
criminal activity. They are punished using the coercive power. Any action or any behaviors
that are seemed to violate these laws are known as crime that is punishable by a court of
law99.
With the passage of time the terminology of crime has been changed to deviance.
Many of the criminal behaviors are termed as deviant now. The examples of such behaviors
are prostitution, alcoholism, stealing etc. The crimes are of different kinds. There are social
crimes like illegal relationships, murders, rapes and theft. The laws are different for different
crimes. Earlier these crimes were considered strictly to be crime. With the changing time the
concept of crime has changed and the petty crimes are now mentioned as deviance. Several
laws have been formulated to avoid the crimes that are committed by the criminals100.
Deviance
To have controls over the actions and the behaviors of individuals and groups in the
society, there are system of social norms and mores that are as old as civilizations
themselves. Social norms are usually related to the religious aspects. There were certain
taboos that were associated with the crime. These taboos existed in primitive areas. These
were formulated to prevent the individuals from committing the crime. Deviance is referred
to those actions and those activities that depart from the normal behaviors and they are
looked down upon by the society to make people desist from these behaviors. Usually the
99 Andrews, Donald Arthur, and James Bonta. The psychology of criminal conduct.
Routledge, 2014.
100 Hirschi, Travis, ed. The generality of deviance. Routledge, 2018.

98SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
fear of the curse of the god and the punishment in hell are some aspects that are supposed to
keep people away from being deviant. The societal boycott and social exclusion are some of
the ways through which the society deals with deviance101.
The major difference between crime and deviance:
 Crime is the violation of the laws of the state or any particular place or region. On the
other hand deviance is the violation of social norms102.
 Deviance is controlled by the societal pressures like the curse of god and the fear of
gods. The punishment that will be received in hell etc. On the contrary the controlling
agents of crime are judiciary, law and police103.
 Deviance cannot be controlled by the exercise of any rule or any kind of coercive
power. The governments have options of punishment to tackle crime. This is one of
the basic differences between crime and deviance.
 It is not necessary that deviance will be of criminal nature. It is sometimes of criminal
as well as non-criminal nature but the crime is always of criminal nature.
 In the contemporary world the concept of crime and deviance is different. The
activities that were considered to be crime earlier are now termed as deviant now.
101 Gottfredson, Michael R. "The empirical status of control theory in criminology." Taking
stock. Routledge, 2017. 85-108.
102 Sweeten, Gary. "Scaling criminal offending." Journal of Quantitative Criminology 28.3
(2012): 533-557.
103 Liberman, Akiva M., David S. Kirk, and Kideuk Kim. "Labeling effects of first juvenile
arrests: Secondary deviance and secondary sanctioning." Criminology 52.3 (2014): 345-370.

99SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
 Crime occurs while a law is violated. Violation of law makes deviance a crime.
 Crime is considered to be more serious than deviance. Deviance is considered not to
be as serious as crime.
Similarities between crime and deviance:
Crime is defined to be the social rules that come with a penalty in case of violation of
those laws. Society dictates through the laws that they create the behaviors they consider to
be deviant and worthy of punishment in case it is undertaken by the members. The violation
of these claws are referred to be crime and they are worthy of punishment. The offenders who
are found guilty of committing the crime are supposed get punishments and the best place for
punishments are jails, courts and prisons. The absence of any laws or regulations might lead
to the arousal of certain crime that would instead lead to harm the citizens. This is the reason
crime must be defined by someone and by the laws created to recognize and punish it, even if
no one agrees to this104.
The concept of deviance is different from it. Deviant behavior is such behavior that is
different from the expected normal behavior of an individual. However the behaviors that
violate religious beliefs might be considered deviant by that particular behavior of the
believer of any particular religion and not deviant by another system of belief or the legal
system of any geographical region. This is the major reason there are variability of deviance
depending upon the culture and the legal system of the society. According to the theories of
deviance the reason for deviance is the cultural transmission that is learned, the structural
strains which means that the individual is not willing to conform to others around him as he
104 Wiley, Stephanie A., and Finn-Aage Esbensen. "The effect of police contact: does official
intervention result in deviance amplification?." Crime & Delinquency 62.3 (2016): 283-307.

100SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
should do. The other reason is labeling in which the society chooses that is labeled deviant
but that act might not appear to be deviant to everyone105.
The deviant acts can lead to the occurrence of crime. Once someone is found guilty of
deviant behavior it has the full right to create laws in order to punish the behavior. The only
way to change is to change the minds of the citizens who consider one act to be deviant and
the other to be non-deviant. It is until an act labeled deviant is viewed as normal by the
society at large that will continue to prompt the inevitable relationship between law creation
and the label deviant. The informal deviance is the little transgression of the socially accepted
norms. The formal deviance is related to crime which involves the violation of laws.
Therefore the relation between deviance and crime is dense. They have a strong relation
between them. The formal deviance occurs while formal and the official rules are broken. It
occurs while any group or individuals breaks the official rules and the regulations of an
organization which can be the rules of the company or a team or a club. Crime is the formal
deviance that occurs while an individual or any group breaks the law of a nation or any other
governmental body106.
Sociology and criminal justice
The divergence of psychological and sociological approaches to crimes most likely
originated from the truth that the criminals and the antisocial individuals were looked at as
someone who is not a part of the society. There are numerous specialists who have received
105 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.
106 Papachristos, Andrew V., Tracey L. Meares, and Jeffrey Fagan. "Why do criminals obey
the law? The influence of legitimacy and social networks on active gun offenders." The
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (2012): 397-440.

101SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
disproportionate number of offenders of social norms who portrayed sorts of instability
emotionally and somehow show psychological deficits. On the other hand, many sociologists
have seen that crime can be studied as a statistical phenomenon and also by comparing total
number of detentions in various nations, neighborhoods, races, occupations and other
collective units. For the individuals who are sociologists, for them the intergroup differences
in the patterns of behavior shall be understandable if it is looked at as a consequence of the
cultures in which people are reared. Culture, in this case, can be seen as an understandable
thing in terms of the history that can antedate any people. Precisely it can be said that the
sociologists can explain the prevalence of criminal behavior in a lone group and on the other
hand he or she can explain the behavior that is non criminal in another group107.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that the concept of the slum dwellers adopting
criminal mentality as children and children of the other socioeconomically rich background
learns how to behave properly by encultration can explain the behavior of the criminals who
are adults. In his thesis professor, Edwin Sutherland showed how thieves can in a consistent
manner accumulate complex superior quality techniques over time and these skills include
verbal abilities, planning criminal activities, and knowledge suitable for stealing and storing
stolen goods and most importantly the idea to get rid of the police if they get caught. In most
cases, such individuals master these skills while they get detained and in the prisons they
acquire these skills from the criminals who have past experiences. Thus it can be said that in
many occasions the criminals when they are sent to prisons with an aim to let them become
stable in the society and to become a good person, often acquires criminal skills and gets
motivation from the prison mates to continue their lives in the path of crime. Famous book
107 Clinard, Marshall B., and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of deviant behavior. Nelson
Education, 2015.

102SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
on criminology, ‘Crime and the community’, written by Frank Tannenbaum explains that the
process of enculturation is a vivid style that what can be found in the works of various
sociologists. In the book the description of criminal careers are labeled as the ‘dramatization
of evil’ in terms of the experience of an individual who for the first time committed a crime
and experienced the process of arrest, imprisonment and trials. The whole procedure that is
involved with the case where an individual gets tagged or labeled as a criminal and then the
rejection he receives from the society being a criminal or antisocial. This situation drives the
criminal to meet other criminals as a need to socialize, that process helps the criminal to find
solace, acceptance and encouragement, and at times, he receives encouragement from the
fellow criminals. This process has an immense negative impact on the society and the first
time offender gets familiarized with the situation and gets into a phase that is irreversible or
he cannot find the way to get into the regular society. In accordance with the experiences of
the agencies of law enforcement, it can be seen that this way is referred to as a ‘hardening
process where the final result is the warrior psychosis of the first time offender108.
In the second quarter of the contemporary century showed the dependence of the
sociologists on the enculturation process as a justifying act against the crime and delinquency
that included various debates between the psychiatrists, sociologists, and criminologists. It
can be said that numerous psychologists and sociologists labeled all the criminals as
psychopath according to a book ‘principals of criminology’, which is not at all right.
Sutherland, who stated that psychopathy is a vague idea that cannot help to accurately
diagnose individuals with criminal mentality, authored the book. Sutherland further added
that the patterns of criminality is left with some patterns which are unexplainable and
108 Taylor, Ian, Paul Walton, and Jock Young. The new criminology: For a social theory of
deviance. Routledge, 2013.

103SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
patterns of criminality can be looked at as a result of various social interactions. It is seen that
at times the psychologists attack other explanations of other psychologists and especially who
have lesser personality and lower level of intelligence. This offensive attitude of the
psychologists reached the highest point in the year of 1950 and that did not help the situation.
At that time, two students of Sutherland reviewed more than 100 cases where they tried to
differentiate non-criminals with the criminals by performing personality tests. The students
of Sutherland experienced that mere 42% of the total effort yielded different average scores
between the criminals and non-criminals. The significant difference between the social class
and the education of the criminals and the individuals of the normal society are tested and
also psychometric tests were performed among the criminals and non-criminals. While the
psychologists were fighting among themselves with the results of their tests, an explanation
for enculturation process for crime allowed many psychologists got allied with the
psychiatrists and fought against the traditional fundamentalists and legalists regarding the
issue between determinism and free will. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that in the
debate between the psychology and sociology regarding this issue. It can be said that the
disputes inherent in their debates loosened the fervor of the debate and eventually lead to
concession on both the parties. The sociologists impressively discredited the views, which
were monopolized by the other disciplines to a lone explanation for a crime that has been
committed. At times when the sociologists experienced criticism while they were defending
the explanations of enculturation for criminal activities, they failed in the non-delinquent and
highly delinquency areas. The sociologists were at that point of time somehow inclined to
defy this by asserting the most of these as those were delinquents who had never been
detained. The sociologists thus deployed various programs for prevention of delinquency in
high delinquency areas and somehow the increased awareness regarding the conflict between
the values of noncriminals and criminals. It is seen that the sociologists employed parole and

104SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
prison systems that at that time impressed many offender’s noncriminal ties. This good
impression acquired a to an extent which was not at all warranted by the facts as in most
cases the prisoners were immensely motivated to provide a noncriminal image of themselves
towards the staffs dedicated for the treatment109.
It is worthwhile to mentio that the study of white collar crimes identified various
crims committed by individuals of the society who were highly respectable and that defied
the clear borderline between the criminal’s and noncriminal’s upbringing, education and
cultural background. When individuals who are not anyways exposed to criminal social
world somehow commit a violent crime it can appear very difficult to explain and might be
interpreted speculatively by a range of untestable psychoanalytic postulations regarding
unconscious symbolism. It can be said that a specific mode of reaction against these sorts of
limitations of the explanations of enculturation process for crime was to assert that all the
criminal activities gts affected by various issues and these factors are prepotent in various
offenses. This research provides no framework that can specify the accurate function of some
specific factors in different crimes and do not indicate any interrelation in between those
factors. Various causation got accepted by the criminologists regarding diverse background
that is academic and that made it look more casual than they actually are. Each exponents of
multiple causation emphasized it’s previous theory. At that time the psychologists stressed on
the personality and on the other hand the sociologists emphasized on the culture; not only that
many scholars emphasized on the biological and various other explanations too.
109 Pyrooz, David C., Scott H. Decker, and Richard K. Moule Jr. "Criminal and routine
activities in online settings: Gangs, offenders, and the Internet." Justice Quarterly 32.3
(2015): 471-499.

105SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
As a general explanation for crime, in order to replace the simple process of
enculturation along with the multiple factors which were mentioned in Sutherland’s theory of
‘differential association’. The editors of Sutherland’s posthumous papers showed that he
conceived of his own theory of differential association as tentative ‘subject to revision in the
light of criticism and research’. Sutherland revised his theory in various respects before he
died and that too for the further development of the situation. It is a matter of fact that he
proposed whether an individual’s drives and motives are noncriminal or criminal, it still
remains a function where the legal codes will be defined by the people around him in a
favorable manner to their violation or observance. Most of the human beings experience a
mixture of these types of influence and an individual becomes criminal if the results of this
associations test get excess of the definitions that are most likely to violate the law over the
definition, which are unfavorable towards the violation of law. Such differential association’s
influence can be referred to as a function of its frequency, priority, duration and most
importantly intensity. The noncriminal and criminal behavior of the individuals is acquired in
that association by the similar learning mechanism. These both somehow satisfies the human
needs that are general along with the values and morale. On the other hand, ‘differential
associations’ determines the range to which an individual experience and promote the
motivation and learning by criminal’s rather than the influence of the noncriminal
individuals110.
Sutherland had formulated his theory in a manner so that in that way many alleged
and actual correlates of crime; like family conflicts, poverty, slum residence and personality
disturbance can be related to criminal activities. These specific conditions, which may be
factors in the criminality I the individuals can affect the social relationships in order to
110 Akers, Ronald L. Criminological theories: Introduction and evaluation. Routledge, 2013.

106SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
promote, being influenced by the criminals to restrict the influence of noncriminal individuals
on him. Dedicated attention to the social relationship of each individual’s social relationship
can explain why and how such correlates of crime like poverty and family conflict. From this
particular view of the theory of Sunderland, it can be said that the factors of individual and
criminal should affect the social relationships of an individual in order to promote the
person’s being influenced by criminals and also it restricts the influence of the noncriminal
individuals on that person. According to Sutherland, any kind o correlate f crime should be
shown to influence the learning experience of the persons if it can be thought of as having a
causative function in that individual’s criminality. It can be said that the crfitics of
Sutherland’s theories’ critics in general tend to overlook the integrating function of the theory
and the broad sense of the theory. The critics somehow misinterpreted his theory when they
suggested that he predicted that criminality would result with mechanical certainty in any
person whose contacts with the individuals with criminal mentality exceed the contacts with
the noncriminal individuals111.
Sutherland has set forth a wide range of point of view to approach the understanding
of the criminals rather than creating a direct formula to predict crime. In contemporary
psychological terms, it can be said that what Sutherland might have had in his mind, would
be more appropriate if it is labeled with the term ‘differential identification’ or ‘differential
learning’. It somehow includes an idea of crime as a subclass of the totality of all the
deliberate actions of human beings just as something to be enlightened as other voluntary
behavior is explicated. It is totally dependent on the socio-psychological notion of actions
111 Pyrooz, David C., Gary Sweeten, and Alex R. Piquero. "Continuity and change in gang
membership and gang embeddedness." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 50.2
(2013): 239-271.

107SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
that are deliberate actions of the individuals as guided by the actors according to which
manner they have learned to rationalize their course of actions. An approach like this is
required to understand the behavior of the individuals that is convergent with numerous
developments of sociology and psychology. It can be said that it is somewhat a deterministic
approach of crime as it ascribes an individual’s ability to predict his learning experiences and
yet it is considered as beg consistent with the conception that is legal, of crime as willful, as it
focuses on decision-making as a phenomenon to study further. This conception contrasts
heavily with the explanations for crime in terms of unconscious motivation, biological drives
or by the pressure of forces that are external; as such explanations does not trace the
connection among the alleged causes and consciously directed acts of crime.
In his theory Sutherland showed an abstract form which is apart from its illustration.
The illustrative chapters of his book regarding the processes in behaviors, which are, or
criminal mentality and the systems of behavior that are criminal too, convincingly explained
the ways in which the professional criminals get encultured into the life of crime, but he did
not explain the influences of associations that opposes crime. This negligence might reflect
the fact that it can be easier to study the behaviors of the criminals rather than the individuals
who are not criminal. As the criminals can be observed or studied quite conveniently when
they are detained or under supervision; on the other hand, the noncriminals cannot be studied
or observed in this way as they tend to hide their past. Thus it can be said that studying
individuals can be important to get a clear understanding crime. Thus, it can be said that the
most logical application of the theory of Sutherland appeared to be the traditional
enculturation explanation for crime; though it is abstract formulation suggests that it can be a

108SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
frame of reference regarding theoretically connecting the correlated conditions with specified
crimes to analyze the ehavior of the noncriminal individuals and the process of correlation112.
Evolutionary psychology and criminal behavior
The evolutionary psychology gives a powerful instrument to understand the behavior
of the individuals and gives response to the criminal behavior. One instrument entails to
furnish the hypothesis regarding the psychological behavior that is underneath the criminal
activities. This happens because all the mechanisms that are psychological are plausibly be a
part of the chain that leads to various criminal behavior and gives response to it. This is
because all the psychological mechanisms need environmental input to activate them and
these incorporate a specified list of circumstances to which a particular criminal behavior is
most likely to be inhibited. A dissimilar set of instruments or tools can also be valuable and
that is how the evolutionary psychology provides value that is heuristic to guide the
criminologists to examine the domains which are unexplored in a casual chain which can be
missed by criminology theories that are existing. In accordance to the evolutionary
psychology, all general behavior of humankind regardless of criminals and noncriminals are a
product of the psychological mechanisms that is combined with an environmental input that
can activate them or somehow inhibit their activation. The explanatory understanding of the
distribution and thickness of the calluses on the human skin lies within the individuals over
the time and across individuals regardless of the cultures over time that is required113.
112 Pyrooz, David C., Gary Sweeten, and Alex R. Piquero. "Continuity and change in gang
membership and gang embeddedness." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 50.2
(2013): 239-271.
113 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.

109SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Though the evolutionary psychologists emphasize on the psychological adaptations
the logic that is interactionist has to be same. Thus the argument for the chief role of
evolutionary psychology to understand the psychology of the criminals can be arranged
syllogistically. All the human behavior at a basic level of description will be needing
psychological mechanisms and whatever they turn out to be, they owe their existence to
evolution by selection. If there is another process is present that can surely make a coplex
psychological adaptation that can be immensely complex and it will not be known to the
community of the scientists.
It can be said that various criminal behaviors such as assault, rape, robbery and
murder include a subset of human behavior and these take place in non-trivial rates and are
known cultures in patterns, which can be predicted. For an example, it can be said that in
each and every culture, various criminal behavior shows cross-culturally predictable sex
distribution and age. These types of criminal behavior are perpetrated various times more by
the male population than the female population. This situation dramatically increase when
the males enter the competition that is reproductive. They eventually decline with age and in
such way when the male rates approach female rates in older age. These types of criminal
conducts also take place at higher rates in between the men who are unmarried compared to
the males who are married; and among men who lack resources more than women who lack
the resources. It is worthwhile to mention that though women population is more likely to
suffer than men population and in general the males who experience financial troubles are
most likely to commit sorts of criminal activities. These are the chief findings regarding what
evolutionary psychology can shed light.

110SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Conservative ideology of crimes and criminal justice
The use of the term, ‘conservative’ has been used freely but it is not clearly known to
all the use of the same term in the context of crime and criminology. The ones who are not
conservative might consider the term to be a negative imagery. While discussing about the
conservative ideology of crimes and criminology the terms like, ‘liberal’, ‘conservative’,
‘radical’ and ‘marxist’ are used. The individuals who are not conservative the label is used as
a perjoritive to summon the images of racial bigotry, the religious intolerance, apologies for
capitalism and a blind preference for status quo. It has been observed that most of the
students seeking the course of criminology have remained biased towards the idea of
conservative thought.
Crime and political ideology
The conservative model of punishment captures the idea of, ‘An eye for an eye’. This
idea exists in the contemporary world. This idea initiates the concept of when a wrong is
done to an innocent person the wrongdoer should be punished severely in order to stand as an
example in the eyes of other wrongdoers. This model is often called as the model of, ‘law and
order’. The liberal punishment model is the extreme contrast of this model. The liberal
punishment model puts stress on the rights of the accused and less cruel and unusual
punishment and the rehabilitation of those convicted of a crime. The individual who believes
in the idea of conservative idea of punishment thinks that the liberal model of punishment is
too soft on crime. In many countries the punishment is treated as harsh and cruel. It is the
matter of international recognition for many countries. Some countries are seen to flaunt the
punishments where they fly the offenders high in the air and sometimes even stone down to
death. It is only in an exceptional period that the principle and practice of redemption gain the
upper hand. The punishment appears to be more appealing in case of social tensions and
economic unpredictability. The people usually look for something or someone to blame while

111SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
they feel insecure and vulnerable. The reason for this is that racism pervades many countries
as a whole. The best example of such case is US where the African Americans who belong to
the lower end of the economic class and they are found to be comparatively close in serving
the white people as the other as a source of criminal threat for the dominant population. The
political force has the potential to push against the harsh punishment model through its law
and order system. A strong movement is required to focus on the understanding of the cruelty
that is associated with the cruel and harsh nature of the punishments. The root causes of the
crime should be analyzed and the law systems and the criminal justice systems should be
emphasized. The rehabilitation and rights for the criminal defendants and prisoners should be
emphasized. It is usually associated with the politicians whose thoughts are liberal, the
advocates who are aware of the recent laws and regulations.
The ideology of criminal justice and crime can basically be divided into two different
schools, one is the school of conservative thoughts and the other is the school of liberal
thoughts. At one point of time the liberal arguments gain political strength and the policies it
accepts the policies that follow merely the punishment model. During the 1960s and the
1970s became stronger and it intended to challenge the existing criminal justice system. The
liberal thinkers opined for the rehabilitation of the offenders. They argued that in maximum
cases the criminals belonged to the lower social strata and occupied a lower position in the
economic ladder and even were socially segregated. They were referred as the product of
poverty and economic isolation. This is the reason they commit crime. Precisely their poor
economic and social condition makes them commit the crime. The liberal thinkers have put
forward the point that the criminals should be offered with education and opportunity rather
than harsh punishment. This is the best form of the prevention of the crime as according to
the concept put forward by the liberal thinkers it is thought in this way that while the criminal
would pay his or her debt to the society he or she will not commit the crime again. The liberal

112SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
thought always consists of the fact that mistakes can be made by human beings as they are
not God. Every human being has the right to make a mistake and then he should get a fair
chance to even rectify his mistakes.
There is stark contrast between the conservative ideology view and the liberal view.
The liberal ideology is in favor of the fact that every human being is naturally good but the
oppressive society, the poverty, addiction, the abuse, racism, lack of equal opportunity.
Nobody is born with bad nature but the harsh situation makes the situations hard for the
human beings. On the contrary the conservative thinkers assume the fact that the individuals
are not born innocent. The criminals contain certain traits of crime from their birth itself.
They usually blame the liberal thinkers as being idealists. The conservative thinkers opines
for the fact that the people are fundamentally flawed and they are prone to anti-social acts.
The conservative ideologists were rightly called the rightists. This was another basic
difference between the conservative view of human kind and the liberal view. The thoughts
of the rightists and the leftists were different and they were contrasting. Many rightists
believed that only fruitful path of redemption were the conversion into conservative
Christianity. This concept was majorly believed by the ones who were major part of the
Christian Right. The theory believed by the rightists that the humankind was sinful and they
were in need of self-discipline, harsh punishment and religious redemption to lead the people
on the correct path is rooted from one particular idea where it is mentioned that society itself
is in a chaotic state. The society naturally was developed under a chaotic state. This was
however a philosophical idea that emerged. This is the reason that the first obligation of the
society is to establish a formidable authority. When it comes to authority it has been found
that authority was something that resided in the society, in Church, in State, in the family or
the community. This theory further opines for the necessity of the presence of some coercive
power. The rightists believed that the entire world was divided into good and bad people.

113SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
According to their definition bad people were unworthy people who were the cause of all the
ruins. They were anti-socials and it was because of the weakness and the self-indulgence and
also the lack of the will to overcome the basic instincts that were in them. The two aspects
like the bad or the good included many dimensions like the cultural dimension, the moral
dimension, the economic and the political dimension114.
On the other hand the character trait of a strong and a person who abides the law is
considered to have a ‘social responsibility’. In case of such things the person must initially
resist the temptation and while doing that the person might be able to lead a good life. This
concept however is differently stated by many individuals. They are different in many cases.
In the liberal model all people are potentially good and the preventive measures should be
taken in order to keep them from coming under the influence of something bad and evil. This
is not justified. This has a contrasting view. As in the rightist worldview all people are born
with the intentional strong support to be bad and some are not able to control those urges
through any kind of social responsibility or discipline, the punishment and separation are
considered to be the appropriate solution to such behavior. The theme of law and order
stemed from the conservative worldview sets up a stark dichotomy that makes it possible for
deserving people to place them outside the boundaries of an orderly and godly society. From
this perspective it can be stated that once a person goes outside the boundaries of legitimate
society the he is no longer the responsibility of others who are good and who are worthy.
The law and order play out in racial terms
The criminal justice system is a necessary aspect in all the countries and states. It
serves as a means of control over some members of that society it always reflects the need of
the state for control and the political desire of the leaders to stay in power and the social
114 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.

114SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
behaviors that are favored by the political leaders or supported by a major portion of the
members of the society. There are many countries where the whites were superior and
Mauritius was one of those countries where the slaves were treated brutally by their masters.
It is evident that the law and order played out in the racial terms115. The Whites always
controlled the system of criminal justice and they made use of it in order to have control over
the people especially the immigrants and al dark-skinned people116. The Whites have made all
the efforts to suppress the blacks and have constructed the laws that were against them. This
can be argued that an increased emphasis on law and order would result in increased attention
to all forms of lawbreaking. The focus of the law and order policies is not to address the
brutality of the police and other forms of lawbreaking or violence in the state. The
contemporary criminal justice in many cases has been found to be biased towards racial
justice. This was however opposed by the rightists. They blatantly denied the fact the
statistical data where it was found that the arrest and the unequal rates of incarceration and
punishment by race or class for identical crimes as well evidence of police and the criminal
justice officials was based on the race. It was found that the punishment and the policies and
those who defend them were racially motivated117.
Ideological contradictions in law and order policies
Every sector of the Right necessarily does not support the same policy related to the
solution of crime and punishment. The anti-crime policies create disagreements within the
115 Archer, Léonie. Slavery: And Other Forms of Unfree Labour. Routledge, 2013.
116 Back, Les, and John Solomos. Theories of race and racism: A reader. Routledge, 2013.
117 Ozkirimli, Umut. Theories of nationalism: A critical introduction. Palgrave, 2017.

115SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Right. The huge number of death penalties created discord for some Rightists. It was between
the years 1995 to 2003 the prisoners in the United States were executed at an average rate of
one per week. The execution remained an expensive process compared to the life-long
imprisonment, until its use has been steadily increasing and it has been driven in large part.
The execution was a costly form of punishment compared to life-long imprisonment because
the cost of state and legal appeals was high118. The Rightists themselves had diverse views on
punishments and law. They themselves varied from their view. They sometimes find it
uneasy with the growth of federal domination over state criminal justice systems. The crimes
that have been found to cross the state boundaries were termed as federal crimes. The
prosecutions of such crimes were done in the federal courts. The Rightists favored the big
government aspect to make the crime polices a tough one119. The prevention and the
rehabilitation model has been largely defunded and it was found that it ultimately costs less
as it focused on the causes of the crime and the rehabilitation of the prisoners. The people are
ideologically advanced or who are subjected to the excesses of tough on crime practices
usually find it hard to analyze the widespread cruel attitude towards the people who are
labeled as criminals. There are several factors that might inspire some undesirable attitudes
like racism, fear and anxiety for the physical safety and security120. The other crimes that can
be mentioned under this are the economic anxiety which leads the people to head towards a
118 Burchill, Scott, et al. Theories of international relations. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
119 Birkland, Thomas A. An introduction to the policy process: Theories, concepts and models
of public policy making. Routledge, 2014.
120 Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: A problem in American institutional and intellectual life.
University of Chicago Press, 2013.

116SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
growing chaotic situation. The reason people agree with the conservative view is that people
want to live life as a dutiful human being as it is an accepted one and an ideal one. It is the
culture that predominates where it includes that a man is socially accepted only if he is
termed as a good man or a good woman. A person’s identity is the deciding factor of his
image in the society. It takes effort to accomplish this identity. The pride felt by those who
work to maintain their virtue is accompanied by a deep resentment of those who do not feel
to work and who sacrifice to overcome their sinful urges121. The resentment usually turns
bitter while the good people finds out that the bad people are able to get the benefits which
they actually do not deserve and which should rightfully be theirs. The hatred of the good
people is therefore a major driving factor that is effective in driving the support of the country
for tough crime policies and the model of law and order. There is a common sentiment that
works in this case. It is usually believed that the bad people ruin it all for the rest of the good
people. It captures most of the view of the rightists. It adds up to the concept that to consider
the crimes committed by the sinners and to give them a second chance for improving
themselves is to devalue the hard works and the efforts of the good people122.
In order to keep the system in right track there are two basic things that are necessary,
firstly there must be widely shared agreement on what is actually called good. Secondly there
should be a strict separation between the good and the bad. In the contemporary modern
society the concept of good is itself confusing. The definition of good is not defined clearly
and it is associated with some complicated idea. The ideas like status and identity anxiety are
121 Washington, Booker T. Up from slavery. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
122 Bales, Kevin. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Updated with a
New Preface. Univ of California Press, 2012.

117SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
part of what is called good. The definition of good and bad keeps on changing every day123.
The activities that might seem good to someone might not seem good to others. Drinking
alcohol, staying in a live in relationship without marriage and even conceiving a child
without marrying someone and indulging in activities like abortion might be termed as bad
activity by few and it cannot be the same for others. The point of view changes from person
to person124. Some activities are considered legal in some countries and the others are
considered to be illegal in other countries. The heterosexual relation is considered legal in
many countries and the same is considered to be illegal in many countries. It all depends
upon the cultural psychology. The changing definitions of good and bad can make the
traditional rightists resentful and angry leading them to charge progressives, secularists and
others who disagree with them as being moral relativists125.
Rethinking God, Justice and the treatment of the offenders
Leo Tolstoy commented that the entire trouble about the system of criminal justice
was that people think that there were circumstances when one deal with the human beings
without love but unfortunately such circumstances does not exist. It was not possible to
handle the human beings without love. Mutual love was the fundamental law of human life.
The existing criminal justice system is troubled by tendencies while treating some people
who were the offenders or the criminals, without any kind of affection or love. The
consequences of those are not something desirable and they were costly. These tendencies
123 Biguenet, John, and Rainer Schulte, eds. Theories of translation: an anthology of essays from Dryden to
Derrida. University of Chicago Press, 2012
124 Beckford, James A. "Religious diversity in prisons: chaplaincy and contention." Studies in
Religion/Sciences Religieuses 42.2 (2013): 190-205.
125 Williams, Eric. Capitalism and slavery. UNC Press Books, 2014.

118SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
should be challenged and some changes should be made in such case. The change was
necessary as this would enable to establish a well-being in the society. There are basically
three issues that have come to the forefront while discussing the issues of the treatment of the
employees126. The first and foremost issue is on what basis the people can deal with the
offenders without love. This meant what views of God ultimate reality and justice justify the
retributive approaches to the criminal justice. The second issue that should be considered is
whether it is possible to construct an understanding of God, the ultimate reality and justice
that is based on the texts of the tradition of Christian, like Bible127. This supports the assertion
of Tolstoy about the fundamental law of life being love or not. The third issue is whether it is
possible to approach the issues related to criminal justice. The question is whether this was
possible in real life? This gives rise to a question on the point of view of Tolstoy regarding
the assertion that love is foundational128.
Concepts of god and retributive justice
History has witnessed the occurrence of huge amount of crime. In spite of this many
people have agreed to the fact that violence was something that should be avoided. Most
126 Barker, Kenneth L., and John R. Kohlenberger III. The Expositor's Bible Commentary-
Abridged Edition: Old Testament. Zondervan, 2017.
127 Becci, Irene. "Languages of change in prison: thoughts about the homologies between
secular rehabilitation, religious conversion, and spiritual quest." Religious Diversity in
European Prisons. Springer, Cham, 2015. 159-176.
128 Bennett, Zoë. Using the Bible in practical theology: historical and contemporary
perspectives. Routledge, 2016.

119SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
human beings have denied inclining towards the crime. Sometimes in human it is required to
have some overriding reason to go against this inclination. The best example is to act
violently toward and especially to kill other human beings that are serious business, while
undertaking because of some other value, commitment or instinct that overrides the
inclination not to be violent.
Punishment is something harsh and the exertion of coercive force. This is the
infliction of pain and therefore it is seen as a form of violence. Punishment is a problematic
area. It is problematic as it is the consequence of some socially and normally unacceptable
actions. The problematic nature of punishment has given rise to a huge variety of
justifications for delivering such pain129.
In the tradition of criminal justice of the western world, the overriding justifications
given for the violently punishing offenders are even to the point of death that have continued
to be tied to certain understanding of the ultimate reality. In such case the ultimate reality
requires retributive justice while the fundamental natural or divine laws are violated. Such
retributive justice is seen to restore the moral balance130.
A shade of religious root has been added to this. According to the religious angle the
punishment is highly dependent on the understanding of the God as the ultimate reality.
129 Chui, Wing Hong, Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng, and Lok Ping Wong. "Spirituality and
punitiveness: An exploration of Christian, Buddhist, and non-religious attitudes towards
crime." International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 41.1 (2013): 1-15.
130 Clinard, Marshall B., and Robert F. Meier. Sociology of deviant behavior. Nelson
Education, 2015.

120SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Retribution is needed to satisfy the God. While someone commits crime the central question
that comes to the forefront is what the person who has committed the crime has deserves. The
normative answer in such case is pain. Therefore in the area of the criminal justice one view
is that the issue of punishment is related to death131. On the other hand there is other view that
deals that human beings are a theological as well as a philosophical and practical issue. While
commenting that violence is a theological issue one is focusing on the fact that theology can
be used in a broader sense. In order to refer to the beliefs related to the ultimate reality,
foundational beliefs about the nature of the universe. God is used as a common human
symbol for the ultimate reality. The western culture has theological roots that can dated back
to the Christianizing of the Roman Empire which began in the fourth century with the first
Christian emperor, Constantine, and given the powerful theological grounding in the work of
Augustine a century later.
God has provided the human beings with laws, rules and the human beings are
expected to follow the same. God has revealed about the punishments and the laws in the
Bible. Apart from the Bible the revelation include the natural awareness of the people that
should be there in their own hearts of the people. The people must know what is right and
what is wrong. A particular society reflects the laws of the god. The human society constructs
legal structures to a greater extent as well as to a lesser extent depending on the particular
society that reflects the laws of the god. God has designed the sin and therefore the sins are
against the God. This is the reason the one who commit the sin indirectly violate against the
god. This would make God angry and punitive. The only way the holiness can be satisfied is
through just punishment. The essential nature of God is inflexible. It is not possible for God
to respond to each case in unique circumstances of each sin. God is constrained by holiness,
131 Chapman, Dennis, ed. Sociology and the Stereotype of the Criminal. Routledge, 2013.

121SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
and this is the reason the most foundational characteristic of god. This further include that
simple forgiveness would lead to the violation of the holiness and would leave it
unsatisfied132.
Compassion without satisfaction is impossible for god. It is because the justice of god
is based on the principles of holiness. Punishment is the only thing that is allowed by god. It
can be asserted that when the offense is serious enough, the only payment that is acceptable
to justice is death. This calls for the capital punishment. Only the holiness of the god can be
satisfied. If this happens then only god can relate133.
Criminal justice and Christian forgiveness
Jim chandler, one of the critics, presented a critical difference between a forgiveness
that is merely offered and forgiveness that is received. Forgiveness that is offered is known as
the weak form of forgiveness. This is mentioned in the Old Testament. In the New Testament
the strong form of forgiveness is mentioned. The strong form follows that the victimizer has
to repent or else the forgiveness has no value. Apology is the strongest form of forgiveness
but it is not the only thing. The strong form only holds the possibility of reconciliation134.
Without reconciliation there is no apology. The strong form follows the biblical view which
states that forgiveness cannot be granted unless the victimizer has repented.
132 Cornish, Derek B., and Ronald V. Clarke, eds. The reasoning criminal: Rational choice
perspectives on offending. Transaction Publishers, 2014.
133 Cheng, Patrick S. From sin to amazing grace: Discovering the queer Christ. CPG, 2012
134 Curran, Kathryn. "Why God Is Often Found Behind Bars: Prison Conversions and the
Crisis." Second Chances As Transformative Stories Rhd V3 2&3 3.2 (2015): 161-184.

122SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Crime and religion
There has been a relation between religion and crime. It was found that religion had
deterring influence on crime and the behaviors and the attitudes it had. It has been seen that
many criminals take religion as the means to justify their crimes. There was a mixed finding
on the findings related to crime and criminology135. On one hand the criminals are found to be
negative about the religion and on the other hand they had firm belief on the religion.
Religion often emphasized the life after dead and on the consequences of the evil deeds. The
criminals who take the help of religion in order to accomplish their crime state that god knew
that the criminals had no other choice136. It was recorded in an interview taken of the
criminals where they confessed that they indulge themselves in crimes like robbery, stealing
as they had no other option or choice. They commit such crimes in order to survive in the
competitive world. It has been found that they indulge themselves in crime as they wanted a
sustainable life. The criminals after committing the crime believed that they would go to
heaven even after committing such crime as his cause was pious137. They believe that they
face the hell already on earth and they were struggling to get rid of such hell138. This is the
135 Touraine, Alain, and Anton Oleinik. Organized crime, prison and post-Soviet societies.
Routledge, 2017.
136 Sullivan, Winnifred Fallers. A ministry of presence: Chaplaincy, spiritual care, and the
law. University of Chicago Press, 2014.
137 Touraine, Alain, and Anton Oleinik. Organized crime, prison and post-Soviet societies.
Routledge, 2017.
138 Taylor, Ian, Paul Walton, and Jock Young. The new criminology: For a social theory of
deviance. Routledge, 2013.

123SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
reason they believe that they would go to Heaven. The criminals have come up with another
concept that they could do anything in hell and therefore the punishment given was not
justified. Every individual had the liberty to do anything in hell as there was no decorum in
hell. The offenders under such situation believed that god should forgive everyone even if
they don’t believe in him. Some criminals even make sure that they pray before committing
the crime as this is their means of income139.
Many researches argued that the religion does not justify the criminal activities of the
criminals. The criminals make use of religion in a wrong way. They come up with creative
ways to exploit religion in order to achieve their own ends. For achieving the personal goals
the criminals takes the undue advantage of the religion. Even when the criminals purposely
distort the teachings of the religion, the critics argue that such religious rationalizations still
may play a criminogenic role in their process of making a decision.
Summary
Therefore while summarizing the concept this can be mentioned that the conservatism
comes from a Latin term, ‘conservare’ which means to; ‘save’ or to ‘preserve’. The
conservative view supports the tradition and the status quo. It is orthodox in its beliefs and it
supports the order that already exists in the society. It is completely against the fundamental
change that sometimes occurs in the society and it is sometimes termed as current and
modern change. Under this concept the existing economic and the political inequalities are
justified. The conservative view has firm belief in the free market and the less intervention of
the government. This theory opines the fact that the most of the crimes create a serious
problem in the society and it is caused by the individuals or groups who are not unable to
139 Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and punishment. Penguin UK, 2014.

124SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
succeed within the overall system140. This view assumes that each and every individual has a
free fall which puts them into problematic situation. This can be termed as an irrational
choice. The followers of this view believe the fact that the size of the government should be
minimized. They believe in the fact that success can be achieved only through hard work.
The conservative idea strongly believes in harsh individualism. The individuals who are
found to commit the deviant behavior usually land up in doing the rugged works141.
The concept is extremely the opposite of the conservative view. It consists of the
libertarianism view. The liberal thinkers believe that the government should play a minimum
role in the social life. They oppose the programs that are undertaken by the government for
the redistribution of the income and other types of intervention in order to correct the evil
things that exist in the society142.
This can again be contradicted with the conservative view of the family. The concept
of conservatism can be well understood by the example of traditional nuclear family. In the
traditional nuclear family this can be seen that the father is the head of the family. He is
considered to take all the decisions of the family as he is the breadwinner of the family143.
140 Downes, David, Paul Rock, and Eugene McLaughlin. Understanding deviance: a guide to
the sociology of crime and rule-breaking. Oxford University Press, 2016.
141 Fenske, James. "Does land abundance explain African institutions?." The Economic
Journal 123.573 (2013): 1363-1390.
142 Elkins, Stanley M. Slavery: A problem in American institutional and intellectual life.
University of Chicago Press, 2013.
143 Fein, Helen. Human rights and wrongs: Slavery, terror, genocide. Routledge, 2015.

125SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The example of this has been taken as the conservative view thinks that the society should be
regulated based on the model of the traditional nuclear family. The conservative theory holds
the fact that the society should be operated according to the strict father morality. It states that
in order to become a good and a responsible citizen of the society an individual must learn to
obey the rules and he or she must respect the authorities. The proper behavior is taught only
through proper punishment or at least by the threat of it. Within such a system the exercise of
authority is considered to be moral. The moral is used in the sense that it is moral to reward
obedience and it is moral to punish the disobedience. The system of rewards and punishments
have higher place in the society. It has turned to be a necessary action. It has higher purpose
in the society. The society is a dangerous to survive and in order to survive in the dangerous
world the children must learn discipline and order. This would help them in building their
character and would be able to become good individuals144. The conservative view reveals the
fact that punishment is an effective form to make a person self-disciplined and a moral
person. Punishment makes a person realize his crime and it makes him to rectify his crimes.
Self-discipline is extremely necessary to become a responsible citizen and to be successful145.
If someone is rewarded something which he does not deserve is an unethical act and it is
immoral. This is the reason the conservative thinkers are constantly complaining about
various forms of welfare, affirmative action, linient punishments and similar things for they
see this as rewarding deviance, laziness etc146.
144 Reed Jr, Robert Rentoul. Crime and God's judgment in Shakespeare. University Press of
Kentucky, 2015.
145 Reiner, Robert. Crime, the mystery of the common-sense concept. John Wiley & Sons,
2016.
146 Morgan, G. Campbell. The Bible and the Cross. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2017.

126SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The concept of good and evil always existed in the society. The world is divided into
good and bad. The crime is referred to as the evil things. In order to face and overcome the
evil things one has to be morally strong and determined. A person becomes morally strong
through the system of reward and punishment which enables a person to be self-disciplined.
A person whose moral is weak he will not be able to fight the evil147. Too much self-indulgent
is not good. If someone becomes too much self-indulgent he or she will be termed as
immoral. Crime and deviance is immoral and therefore one should be punished accordingly.
Welfare is termed as immoral like crime and deviance. Therefore, it can be mentioned that
crime and deviance are the results of moral weakness. While discussing the concept of
authoritarian personality comes into the mind. This refers to a relationship that is close with
the idea of conservatism. The conservative view of crime and justice reveals that people
sometimes commit crime as they have the notion that they will be able to get away with it.
They will not be blamed or will be punished because of it. Their pleasure in committing the
crime is more important than the pain that they might receive while receiving punishment for
the crime that they are found to commit148. The classical school of criminology holds this
view. People usually stop themselves from committing the crime as they have the fear of
being caught and being punished. Committing a crime is a rational choice. It is depended on
the choice of a person. The intensity of the pain of the punishment should be increased so that
it outlines the pleasure that a person receives while committing the crime. The punishments
should be more painful and it should be more fearful so that the person will think many times
before committing the crime. However this is the way through which can be reduced but it
147 Nelson, Thomas. The century of the Holy Spirit: 100 years of Pentecostal and charismatic
renewal, 1901-2001. Thomas Nelson, 2012.
148 Geltner, G. "History of corporal punishment." Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer
New York, 2014. 2106-2115

127SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
cannot be eradicated from the society. In other words, in order to reduce the crime the odds of
getting caught should be increased and the severity of punishments should be increased149.
The above discussion is the summary of the contrasting view of the liberal view and
the conservative view. This view emerged in the 18th century. The believers of this view
rejected the concept of divine rights of the kings. In that period this was an existing idea. The
liberal visionaries did not accept the typical views that prevailed in that period. The liberal
thinkers believe that the free enterprise system benefits a minor amount of population. This in
turn has created a huge gap in the income and the wealth. The system of free enterprise has
offered limited option to the people150. This has remained as a disadvantage for them. Their
argument was completely a contrast to the idea of the conservatives. They found innumerable
flaws in the system of this is this is the reason they strictly supported the use of tax dollars for
various social programs like education, work, housing, health concerns and others. They
supported greater involvement of the government sponsored programs and they wanted the
different use of tax dollars. According to the liberal view crime was less complex than the
causes of the same. They declared the causes of the crime were more complex than the crime
itself. This brought more stress in the psychological as well as the social or the cultural
causes. There are certainly some reasons of committing the crime151. People don’t commit
149 Gee, James Paul. An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. Routledge,
2014.
150 Otu, M. Sorochi. "Analysis of the causes and effects of recidivism in the Nigerian prison
system." International Journal of Development and Management Review 10.1 (2015): 136-
145.
151 Natarajan, Mangai, ed. Crime Opportunity Theories:" Routine Activity, Rational Choice
and Their Variants". Routledge, 2017.

128SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
crime without any apparent reason. The liberal thinkers opine that crime stems from certain
reasons like inequality, racism and sexism. Prisoners should focus on the rehabilitation
through the means of education, work and social skill enhancement152. Society is a nurturing
parent. As both the mother and the father is responsible for the moral development of a child,
the society is also responsible for the moral development of an individual. Empathy and
responsibility are the most important tools in such cases. There is a value system that stresses
the importance of helping others and being concerned for the well-being of the community
and the entire society. There are two distinct models of criminal justice system. The first one
is the crime control which can be referred as the conservative theory and the other one is the
due process which is the liberal theory. Both share opposite ideas which have been discussed
above. Both the models have been considered to be effective and both hold a remarkable
position in the society153.
Apart from these two models there are other models that should be highlighted in this
case. One of them is the due process model. This model stresses importance of individual
rights. According to this model it is better to let the several amount of criminals to go free
compared to the falsely imprisonment of an innocent person. The offender should be
accorded with legal counsel and equitable treatment. Moreover the discretion of the police
152 Ozioko, DENNIS IFEANYICHUKWU. "Influence of religious devotion, self efficacy and
prisoners’ status on the prison inmates manifestation of psychological distress." Unpublished
Master of Science Thesis, Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria Nsukka (2014).
153 Gottfredson, Michael R., and Travis Hirschi. "The criminal career perspective as an
explanation of crime and a guide to crime control policy: the view from general theories of
crime." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 53.3 (2016): 406-419.

129SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
should be made limited. The other view that comes in the forefront is the radical view. The
radical view consists of the Marxist and the critical theory. The believers of this view hold
the fact in their minds that the cause or the problem of the crime stems from the nature of
capitalism. It is a system which is immoral and not equal. It consist the aspects that the
capitalist’s society is full of conflict between the classes. The classes include the lower class
as well as the upper class. The struggle of the lower class against the upper class is the main
idea of capitalism. The conflict usually is seen between the labors and the management class.
It is also evident between different races like the blacks and the whites and it also is evident
between the genders. The inequality is created and it is perpetuated by the capitalist system
that is hugely because the profits do not trickle down very far. The radicals find that the role
of the government is not neutral but it is a system that mostly supports the capitalist system
and those that benefit from this154. There were many criticisms that were made of the
capitalism system. Karl Marx was one of them. He was the leading radical thinker. He
thought that capitalism was a concept that supported the exploitation of the workers for the
benefit of the owners. The radicals think crime to be the source of inequality that is created
under created under capitalism where the avenues to achieve the success and happiness are
blocked because of class and racial inequality. According to the radical view the crime
inherent within capitalism and it emerges from the social structures and it forces to produce
both greed of the insider trader as well as the brutality of the murderer or the rapist. The
capitalism pits the stress on the sale of the commodities and it believes the theory that
anything can be turned into commodity ranging from pen, pencil to even people. This theory
shapes all the areas of social life and it stresses on the production and sale. The law of supply
and demand is one particular reason responsible for illegal drugs that is a huge commodity155.
154 Gowan, Teresa, and Sarah Whetstone. "Making the criminal addict: Subjectivity and social control in a
strong-arm rehab." Punishment & Society 14.1 (2012): 69-93
155 Hlavka, H., Wheelock, D. and Jones, R., 2015. Exoffender accounts of successful reentry
from prison. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 54(6), pp.406-428.

130SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Crime is held as the response to capitalism and the contradictions related to the same156. The
workers need to consume the products of the capitalists system but it is in order to do this that
they require to have enough money and their wage has to be increased. This would then
enable a growth in the economy. Too much growth might cut into the profits157. The result of
one such aspect is the creation of a surplus population which means a more or less steady
supply of able workers who are permanently unemployed or even underemployed. This can
also referred as the underclass. The surplus populations are in turn found to commit crime in
order to survive158. There are also many crimes of domination as corporations and their
representatives violate numerous laws like the law of fraud, price-fixing, pollution and others.
This would cause the widespread of the social harms but they are virtually ignored by the
criminal justice system. Therefore while summing up all the views this can be seen that the
conservative perspective consists the fact that offenders freely choose to commit the crime
and they need to be punished. The criminals choose to commit the crime freely and they are
not forced to do so. Their choice of committing the crime is their free choice. This is the
reason they should not be left without punishment. This view does not reflect on the system
as a whole.
156 Higton, Mike, and David Ford. "Religious literacy in the context of theology and religious
studies." Policy Press, 2015. 39-54.
157 Hopkins, Keith. Sociological studies in Roman history. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
158 Hirschi, Travis, ed. The generality of deviance. Routledge, 2018.

131SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
On the contrary the liberal view consists that this kind of behavior stems from a
culture of greed that in the future tends to be largely ignored by the media and it should be
treated lightly by the criminal justice system159.
There is other contradictory view that comes to the forefront in this context that is the
radical perspective. According to the radical perspective the behavior of the criminals is an
inevitable outgrowth of capitalism itself and it would continue as long as the concept of
capitalism will prevail. The most important aspect that cannot be detached while speaking
about this is the concept of socialism. There are many program that can be called the
socialistic programs and the socialistic policies are the part of it. There are many programs
that are financed by the public that can be called socialistic. It is defined as the collective or
governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of
goods. The most important aspect of socialism is that the government provides the funds.
This might include the taxpayers. There are many examples of socialism like police and
firefighters, public schools and public universities, the streets and the highways, the social
security and military160.
The treatment of the criminals is the most important part out of all the discussions.
The treatment of the criminals is dependent on the image of the criminals. The intensity of
the crime is judged than the cause of the crime. The offenders have often been looked down
in the society. The stigma that is associated with the crime is more dangerous than the crime
159 Jimenez, Jillian, et al. Social policy and social change: Toward the creation of social and
economic justice. Sage Publications, 2014.
160 Levy, Rene, and Amy Gilman Srebnick, eds. Crime and culture: an historical perspective.
Routledge, 2017.

132SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
itself. The after effects of committing the crime are more dangerous than the crime itself. The
criminals are treated in the lowest manner in the society161. The treatment towards them
makes them more aggressive and it makes them more inclined towards the crime. This is
where the different views and different opinions come to the forefront and they are taken into
account. The conservative view, the liberal view and the radical view all treat the criminals in
their own ways. The behavior of the criminal depends upon their treatment. The stigma that
the criminals face is the most harmful thing. Therefore this can be stated that the treatment of
the criminals should be an effective one162.
Many criminals have taken the resort of religion in order to justify their crimes. The
entire study of crime and criminology is a contradiction. On one hand it justifies the causes of
crime and on the other hand it criticizes the same causes of the crime. From one particular
view it seems that the criminals who commit the crime have no other choice. On the other
hand it seems that the criminals could restore to some other means but not the criminal path.
Religion has a major role to play in this163. The help of religion is taken in order to
accomplish the crime of the criminals. Some criminals justify their crimes by taking the help
of the religion. In such cases the cause of crime should be analyzed. The roots of the crime
161 Luther, Martin. Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People: A Reader. Fortress Press,
2012.
162 Lorenc, Theo, et al. "Crime, fear of crime, environment, and mental health and wellbeing:
mapping review of theories and causal pathways." Health & place 18.4 (2012): 757-765.
163 Materni, Mike C. "Criminal punishment and the pursuit of justice." Brit. J. Am. Legal
Stud. 2 (2013): 263.

133SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
lies in the fact that in most cases it has been found that the criminals belonged to the poor
societal background and to sustain they had to perform crimes like robbery, theft and similar
crimes. There have been some cases where the criminals have performed crimes like murder
or assassination of someone. It has been however observed that those crimes have been
performed by the criminals under the pressure of some financially sound person. They are
offered huge amount of money in order to commit murder of someone164. This is called
contract killing where the person who is given the contract of killing the person is given a
huge amount of money. The person accepts the contact as he belongs to a poor family and in
need of money he does it. According to the criminals he thinks that he has not committed a
crime as he did it to sustain the life of his and his family165. This is one reason to justify the
crime. However this can be contradicted by stating that the criminal could resort to any other
means of income in order to sustain in the world. He could indulge himself into some hard
work like the job of a labor or some legal work. Apart from this the other aspects of
committing crime is some personal reasons. There have been examples in the literary texts
where the murder was committed because of some personal reasons. The character of Brutus
in Julius Caeser assassinated Julius for his own personal reasons. He was motivated to
commit the murder and this is the reason he killed caeser. He was convinced by his fellow
mates that caeser could turn dangerous and ambitious if he became the king. This is the
164 Otu, M. Sorochi. "Analysis of the causes and effects of recidivism in the Nigerian prison
system." International Journal of Development and Management Review 10.1 (2015): 136-
145.
165 Pavarini, Massimo. "The Jacksonian era: economic development, marginality and social
control policy." The Prison and the Factory (40th Anniversary Edition). Palgrave Macmillan,
London, 2018. 147-202.

134SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
reason he killed him without thinking the consequences of the murder. Later he justified his
act of crime in front of the common public. This is however an unjustified crime. This is the
reason the angle of crimes and the point of view differs. This varies as the cause varies. Every
criminal has their own perspectives of committing the crime. This is what one could extract
from the above study and discussions166.
The study can be divided into many ages. The crime and punishment was different in
the Anglo-Saxon period and the idea of the same developed throughout the ages. From the
pre-historic period to the modern age the concept of crime and punishment varied. It changed
through ages and the treatment towards the criminals changed through the ages. The
criminals were treated brutally in the historic ages. The punishments in the middle ages were
barbaric and the idea of reconciliation was limited. The criminals had to suffer harsh
punishments that have been discussed above. Though in the Bible the treatment of the
criminals was not harsh and there was a scope of spiritual reconciliation167. Though it has
been discussed above that God has set some laws and regulations that should be followed in
order to impress God. This is the reason they should be followed religiously. However this
can be contracted with the idea that is followed by the criminals where they think that they
dwell on Earth and it is itself Hell as they are making huge struggle in order to survive on this
Earth. Their choice of committing the crime is given by god according to them. They have no
other choice but to commit the crime. They think that religion has a major role to play in their
crime. They think that God himself have given them the opportunity of committing the crime.
With the gradual progress the crime was seen from a different point of view and therefore the
166 Papachristos, Andrew V., Tracey L. Meares, and Jeffrey Fagan. "Why do criminals obey the law? The
influence of legitimacy and social networks on active gun offenders." The Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology (2012): 397-440
167 Pearlman, Laurie Anne, et al. Treating traumatic bereavement: A practitioner's guide.
Guilford Publications, 2014.

135SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
ways of punishments were also changed. It got changed according to the changing thoughts.
The concept of punishment was changed to correction and rehabilitation. The prisons were
changed into correctional homes and the prisons were given spiritual treatment in many
places rather than strict punishment. The Anglican Ministry of Mauritius is one such example
where the prisoners are kept under care and they were given certain therapy where they were
made to attain certain programs that were helpful for them. The spiritual treatment proved to
be more effective than the other sorts of punishment168.
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 A social theory application pertaining device
Deviance is dependent upon many theories. There are basic four sociological theories
that can be related to deviance. The first among such theories is the theory of social strain
typology. According to this theory the deviance is based on two different criteria: the first
criteria are the obedience and motivation of a person. The other theory holds importance of
the belief of a person in the ways of attaining the cultural goals. There are certain types of
deviance that are based upon certain criteria like the innovation, conformity, retreatism,
rebellion and the ritualism. The social values and the social goals can make the people turn to
deviance. The criminal are termed as criminals by the society as they have rejected the
acceptable means of making money169. They have ignored the legal and the formal of living
life. The stigmatization is the branding of the individuals in the society. The individuals are
168 Pearlman, Laurie Anne, et al. Treating traumatic bereavement: A practitioner's guide.
Guilford Publications, 2014.
169 Van Ness, Daniel W., and Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring justice: An introduction to
restorative justice. Routledge, 2014.

136SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
branded as deviance and therefore there is a dense relation between the society and the
stigmatization. The past crimes of the criminals convince the society to tag them with certain
level of stigma. The criminal is termed with that brand throughout his life. Deviance implies
to the breaking of one particular norm but the acceptance of another norm. In this case the
criminal accepts the illegal and the unethical means to fulfill their mission. For example,
individuals who are indulged in the selling of the drugs in any country have rejected the
social norm and the right process of making money170.
The other theory is the structuralism functionalism. This sociological explanation
states that deviance comes from structural functionalism. This theory states that the deviant
behavior has an active role in an active and constructive role in the society by ultimately
helping to cohere different populations within a particular society. The concept of deviance
helps in the marking a stark difference between the acceptable and the unacceptable behavior.
The deviant behavior causes imbalance of the expected behavior that an individual should
have in order to live in a society. The deviant behavior destroys the balance the social
equilibrium of the society171.
The other social theory is the conflict theory. This theory suggests that the crimes are
committed because of few factors. The factors may be the social factors, the economic
factors, the political factors or any kind of discrimination or inequalities that occurs in the
170 Geltner, G. "History of corporal punishment." Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal
Justice. Springer New York, 2014. 2106-2115.
171 Yong, Amos, and Jonathan A. Anderson. Renewing Christian Theology. Waco, TX:
Baylor University Press, 2014.

137SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
social groups. The example of this is any kind of movement or any kind of revolt that results
in some amount of unethical behavior172.
The other theory is the labeling theory. This theory allows to understand the way in
which the past behaviors of an individual who is already labeled as a deviant is applied to the
individual who commit certain acts of deviance. The theory states that the major reason for
people becoming deviant is the tag of deviant is applied on them by the society. This is the
force of the society that makes a person more deviant. The past crime of a person makes the
society to label the individual as a criminal. A stigmatized behavior is attached to the
individual who wants is labeled as a criminal by the society because of the crimes committed
by him in the past times.
The final theory is the biological theories of deviance. The theory proposes that an
individual performs such unsocial activities because of their biological makeup. This theory
explains that the different biological make up are responsible for their deviant behavior.
Criminality is thought to be a biological trait that is found in some human beings. This theory
bears a relationship between genetics and crime. This theory leads to informal deviance173.
172 Lee, Matthew T., Margaret M. Poloma, and Stephen G. Post. The heart of religion:
Spiritual empowerment, benevolence, and the experience of God's love. Oxford University
Press, 2013.
173 Drumm, René, et al. "“God just brought me through it”: Spiritual coping strategies for
resilience among intimate partner violence survivors." Clinical Social Work Journal 42.4
(2014): 385-394.

138SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
3.2 A qualitative and empirical study
From the discussion above a brief idea of the factors pertaining to crime has been
revealed. This is more evident with the help of some researches like the interviews, the
personal readings about the deviant behaviors in Google scholars and the related journals.
The interview was conducted among the detainees, some ex-detainees, the family members of
the prisoners, the NGOs that are being officiated in prisons and the society. The intention of
the interview was to take the opinion of the church and the religious institutions on crime and
deviance. The research that has been adopted in the project is the primary as well as the
secondary method. The primary method includes the interview of the related persons. The
interview process has been taken into consideration for this particular project. The secondary
method has also been applied in this project. Evidence form articles and journals have been
observed in this project.
The interview was conducted of the detainees, the prison officers, the church that are
engaged as well as who are not engaged in the prison ministry, the ex-detainees, the non-
government organizations that are working with the detainees as well the ex-detainees.
Interview with detainees:
Interviewer: So from when have you been accused of crime?
Detainee 1: I have been held in the custody for six years.
Interviewer: what was your crime?
Detainee 1: I was found guilty of committing murder of my opponent in political election.
Interviewer: what kind of treatment do you receive in this correctional home?
Detainee 1: I received a moral treatment in the beginning but with the passing time and with
some improvements in my behavior I received a better treatment with the passing years.

139SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Interviewer: What made you change your behavior?
Detainee 1: self realization.
Interviewer: what about you? How do you feel in this Ministry?
Detainee 2: I used to feel separated initially but now I feel good staying here. Before staying
here I used to stay in a harsh prison where I was treated badly and I became more violent than
before.
Interviewer: What made you commit such crime?
Detainee 2: My poor financial condition. I was the only earner in my family and therefore I
had to resort to such unethical practices like murder, performing the act of rigging while
election so that I could get a ransom amount of money in orders to feed my family.
Interviewer: So what do you think which a better process of rectification is?
Detainee 2: here I have received a better treatment. The religious treatment acted as a healer
that healed my mental wounds and I found myself safe amidst such people.
Interviewer: Initially what treatment did you get from the society?
Detainee 2: I was seen as a separate self from the society and I was marginalized. I was
looked upon as a criminal who made my crimes more severe and I was not given a chance to
rectify my crimes. I am reminded of Jesus Christ here who himself was imprisoned and he
survived. Like him we can also have the power to survive in this world. This made us feel
relieved that even we have the chance to rectify ourselves. Being criminal was not a fault but
continuing the entire life as a criminal is more harmful.
Interview with the prison officers:
Interviewer: what experiences do you have with the prisoners?

140SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Prison officer: the prisoners need to be treated strictly. They are required to understand the
consequences of the crime that has been committed by them. This is the reason they should
be treated in a strict manner.
Interviewer: Do you observe any change in their behavior after the strict treatment?
Prison officer: the strict treatment brings a great difference in the behavior of the prisoners.
They come to the prison in the worst condition. They should be kept a watch every time.
They can turn out to be dangerous even inside the prison.
Interviewer: does this treatment really help?
Prison officer: this is effective in some cases whereas it turns out to be ineffective in some
cases. The prisoners do not react to this treatment. Even after the release they are found to
indulge in some amount of severe crime.
Interviewer: is the punishment justified?
Prison officer: the punishments are temporary treatment. Sometimes these are effective and
sometimes they are not effective. This is really difficult to say that they are the only way to
treat the prisoners.
Interviewer: Is there any alternative of punishment?
Prison officer: In the prison we try to indulge the criminals in some amount of moral works.
We try to make the criminals busy in some works like tailoring, making food and we even
arrange for some entertainment program for them. We find these as a perfect substitute of the
punishment. These activities have turned out to be effective in maximum cases.

141SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Interview with churches engaged in prison ministry: the interview has been conducted
with the president of the church:
Interviewer: So being the president of the church what is your observation on the treatment of
the criminals in prison ministry?
President: the prisoners should be made aware of the love and power of god. This is the only
way to treat them.
Interviewer: what role does the church have to pay in the Anglican prison ministry?
President: we try to offer the lessons taught by Jesus Christ and we try to take the prisoner
closer to god. We try to bring them closer to the power and we want to have them the grace
of god.
Interviewer: how do you do this process?
President: we arrange for the religious sessions where we talk about Bible and made them
aware that life is beautiful and a gift given by god and this should be lived in a good manner.
We try to eradicate the crime from within them so that they are finished from the root itself.
We make them know that even the God was found guilty and even he was punished. There
was no reason for them to feel ashamed. There is always a scope to rectify them.
Interviewer: Is this an effective process? Did you find any result?
President: yes, this is an effective process and we found effective results from it. Many
criminals went out from the prisons and they were found to live a healthy life with their
family. In many cases we found it to be an effective one. We are able to offer a new life to
the prisoners by lending them a way to rectify themselves.

142SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Interviewer: What are the activities that are conducted in the Mauritius prison ministry? What
makes the church to help them?
President: the Mauritius prison ministry helps the prisoners to overcome all the barriers that
were there in their life. The Mauritius prison ministry conducts programs like the listening to
the issues of the criminals and proceeds with the counseling. It conducts a spiritual journey.
They offer an educational support to the criminals and they offer they try to visit the families
of the prisoners. The other activities include the support to the ex-detainees as well the
present detainees. The detainees experience a spiritual journey in the prison ministry. The
church is a place where we do not charge anything extra to the members. We believe in the
fact that every individual are the gift of god and every individuals deserve to get the blessing
of god. This is the reason we want many individuals to join the church and we want to offer
every little help to every individual, whatever we can. This is the reason we support and try to
assist the Anglican ministry in their efforts to improve the lives of the detainees.
Interviewer: do you think this can help?
President: this process can always help as God is the healer of all. He is having the extreme
power to make things good. A person should be made realize of the mistakes that are
committed by him. There is no big way to deal this than the self-realization. This is the
biggest way to rectify someone and to rectify his guilt.
Interview with ex-detainees:
Interviewer: how long you had to spend your life in the prison ministry?
Ex-detainee 1: I had to spend five years in the Mauritius prison ministry.
Interviewer: how was your experience there?

143SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Ex-detainee 1: Initially my life was the same. My crime made me realize that I had no right to
live in the world. It took time for me to transfer myself from a criminal to a normal human
being. We were given a moral treatment which was not hard to accept by me initially. It was
the same for many criminals. Gradually we got accustomed to the ways of life in the prison.
Initially we could not relate our lives with the gatherings and the programs that were
conducted in the prison ministry. I could not connect with the prayers and the religious
matters that were being conducted inside the ministry. I felt distressed and I wanted to escape
from such situation. With the counseling sessions I started to feel some good change in me. I
found some change that made me feel better as a human being.
Interviewer to the second ex-detainee: What about you? What was your experience in prison
ministry?
Ex-detainee 2: I never believed in god and in the ways of religious treatment. After going to
the prison ministry I found some peace. It all took time but it brought solace in my life. I
found a reason to live. The biggest thing that made me feel special there was the special
behavior that I received there. The threatening behavior that I received from the society for a
longer period of time made me a negative person and I found no hope in my life. The
different programs that were conducted in the prison ministry helped me come out of the
prison and live a free life without any accusations and without any burden. I came back to my
family and I learned to overcome the stress I was going because of my crime.
Interviewer to third ex-detainee: what were the good as well as the bad things that you face in
the ministry?
Ex-detainee 3: the worst thing that I faced was my own feeling that made me stay in the
prison. I did not want to stay in the prison ministry. My crime and the depression that I had to
go through because of the crime made me feel bad. I was made realized that I was there as I

144SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
committed a crime and was not accepted by the society. This made me feel depressed and I
was not ready to accept the ways of the ministry. However with time I got accustomed to the
ways of the ministry and the programs attracted and convinced me to show some kind of
attachment with the ministry. The different courses and most importantly the warm treatment
of the churches that always has remained a constant support to the Anglican ministries
created a feeling of repercussion in me. I experienced a biggest change in my life because of
this. I myself could feel that I would not be able to experience the change if I were not a part
of the Anglican ministry.
Interviewer: what do you think the strict treatment is a better process or the treatment offered
by the Anglican Ministry is better?
Ex-Detainee: from my experience I can say that the treatment offered by the Anglican
Ministry is better than the treatment offered by the other strict prisons. I stayed in the prison
where I received a brutal treatment earlier. It made me more violent than before. I was made
realize that the crime that I committed was something grave and there was no forgiveness for
that. I had no hope at all to improve and get back to the normal life. I received a different
treatment in the Anglican Ministry. They empathized with me and my crime. Nobody
commits a crime on his own will. They do it because of certain reasons. The reasons can be
economical as well as political. The Ministry showed sympathy towards me. I was recovered
from the stressful stage of my life which made me commit such crimes. During my crisis
period I got extreme support from the Ministry. A person staying in the ministry will be able
to overcome the trauma of committing the crime rather than staying in the prison where he
will receive a barbaric treatment and this would make his crime more brutal and more
intense.

145SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Interview with the NGOs officiating in prisons and society: (the interview has been
conducted of the in charge of a leading NGO in Mauritius)
Interviewer: In which fields does the NGO works?
The In-charge: Our NGO works with the prisons and the society. We basically work on the
counseling of the prisoners and we do counseling of the anti socials that exist in the society.
Interviewer: What are your observations in the prisons?
The In-charge: The prisons are usually known as the correctional homes but while working
there we witness many such tortures that are done on the criminals. It is different from the
ways of the Anglican Ministry. The criminals are brutally treated and they face a lot of
torture there.
Interviewer: what role did the NGO played in this?
The In-charge: we go the prison to heal the pain of the prisoners and so that they the crimes
can be eradicated from the roots. We act as a healer amidst the torture that the criminal has to
bear. Even in the society we try to find out the main cause of the crimes that are committed
by the anti socials and the consequences of the same. We try to take the anti socials away for
the society that looks up to the criminals as some creature who has no right to live. We try to
put them in the Anglican Ministry where they can be healed in the presence of god.
Interviewer: how does society treat the criminals?
The In-charge: the criminals receive a harsh treatment from the society. They are
marginalized by the society. The society tries to maintain a safe distance from the criminals.
The criminals are not sympathized and this makes them more violent.
Interviewer: So which is more important for them, punishment or moral healing?

146SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The In-charge: Punishments are always important for them but the moral treatment is also
extremely important. In maximum cases it has been observed that counseling had a major
role to play in the treatment of the criminals. Punishment in many cases could not make the
criminals realize about their crimes. The punishments were a short term solution to the
problem. It was a not a long term and a permanent solution to the problems related to the
crimes.
Interviewer: Which type of treatment is more accepted by the criminals?
The In-charge: Maximum prisoners lead a good life after they are sent to the Anglican
Ministry. They are required to get the presence of god. They are transformed from within as a
good human being. Initially the criminals had difficulties in accepting the ways of the
treatment. They could not accept the ways in which the Ministry dealt them. Initially they
could not make themselves attach to the ministries and the ways of it. The readings from the
bible were something that they did not like but later their involvement in all this could make
the criminals a responsible citizen.
Interviewer: Punishment or spiritual reformation, which is a better way?
The In-charge: The spiritual reformation has been proved to be a better way of treating the
criminals. They are easily accepted by the criminals. Punishments should be aside and the
spiritual reformation should be considered as an essential form of treatment. The punishments
can only instill fear among the criminals. The punishments are moreover for a specific period
of time and hence it cannot be a long term solution. The spiritual treatment eradicates the
crime from the root itself. The criminals are not released until a change is seen in them from
the ministries.

147SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Therefore this could be extracted from the research methodology that the criminals
the positive changes in the attitude of the criminal have been observed while they were kept
in the ministry. They were kept under care and special reconciliation programs. From the
interviews taken of the ex-detainees and the detainees it can be extracted that the spiritual
treatment gave them a lot of help and they could get rid of the stigma of creating the crime.
Many criminals accepted the fact that they created the crime and were guilty of it. The
behavior of the society was much torturing one for them and this made them more violent and
rough. When they received the special healing programs in the Anglican Ministry they were
healed and they were able to recover from the trauma of their criminal behavior. This is the
reason the Anglican Ministry in Mauritius was preferred. From the interview that was taken
of the officials of the church, it can be extracted that in the Bible the spiritual treatment did
hold an important position and even they supported a spiritual reconciliation of the criminals.
They supported the Anglican Ministry and they went to those ministries and they organized
some spiritual treatment and biblical sessions for the criminals. They have witnessed a lot of
change in the criminals and after they received those treatment and the changes were on the
positive side.
Chapter 4
4.1 Survey on Penal Institutions and Judicial in Mauritius
In Mauritius, the CJS statistics unit of the Central Statistics Office records criminal justice
and crime based on the data retrieved from the Mauritius Police Force (MPF), the Mauritius
prison Services (MPS), the judiciary and the Probation and After-care services. In regards to
the data related to judiciary, the CJS statistics unit collects the same. In regards to the MPF
and MPS related data, the Operational Officers of the respective departments are responsible

148SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
for retrieving the relevant data. However, the CJS Statistics unit is responsible for
disseminating and compiling the data (Basu and Bano 2016).
The statistics unit is obligated to ensure consistent, good quality, timely data collection of
statistics that are accurate and reliable. The data pertaining to public perception on crime and
victimization are collected at the Continuous Multipurpose households Survey (CMPHS).
The survey includes the various strategies that have been adopted by the Mauritius police to
fight crime and improve its services. Some of such strategies include close circuit television
installations and Community Policing Forums in crime-prone areas.
The survey also includes the statistics pertaining to prison and detention in Mauritius. The
recent statistics recorded in the survey is based on the data retrieved in 2016. The recent
survey recorded an incline in the imprisonment rate where the daily average prison
population was approximately 2232 detainees; thus, demonstrating an incline of 5%
compared to the figure recorded in 2015. There has been an incline in the trial population and
daily average remand rate by 11% to 872 in the year 2016 compared to the data in 2015
which was 787.
In regards to the detention staff and institutions, there were almost 12 prisons as per the data
retrieved in 2016 including the one situated in the Island of Rodrigues. The remaining 11
prisons located in the Island of Mauritius includes three women prisons, one juvenile
prison (CYC) and 7 male adult prisons. In 2016, the data recorded in the survey with
respect to the prison staffs, almost 1202 officers were recorded out of which 113 were
females and 1089 were males excluding the supporting and administrative staff.
In regards to the data related to Rehabilitation Youth Centre (RYC), there was one RYC
for boys and one for girls. The RYC staff included 45 officers excluding the supporting and
the administrative staffs as per the data recorded in the survey in 2016. The survey further

149SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
included the expenses that were incurred on the prison service in Mauritius. An average
amount of Rs 775 has been spent on every detainee in 2016 for the Island of Mauritius (Sekol
and Farrington 2016). These calculations include the social aid granted to the detainees, value
of labor contribution of the detainees to the prison workshops and the persistent expenditure
incurred upon the prisons in Mauritius.
Prisoners in Mauritius
The main purpose of the prison services in Mauritius is to serve society by retaining
detainees in humane and safe custody and assist them to make good use of their life. There
are several penal institutions for the prisoners in Mauritius. The Central Prison situated in
Beau Bassin restricts adult male and is considered as the most significant prisons, given that
it provides accommodation for the largest number of detainees in Mauritius. This prison
endows the prisoners with the opportunity to take part in several constructive activities that
have been designed to smooth the progress of social reintegration (Jewkes, Crewe and
Bennett 2016).
The Eastern High Security Prison aims at maintaining good standards of security and
discipline while considering rehabilitation opportunities for the detainees. This is based on
the belief that prohibiting rehabilitating opportunities to the prisoners would bring a sense of
safety in government, prison staff, the public and the detainees or prisoners. This prison aims
at safeguarding the public by detaining the prisoners while exercising their duty of care that
they owe to such prisoners within the prison (Mujuzi 2015).
The Correctional Youth Centre situated at Barkly is a correction home for the male youth
offenders until they attain the age of 18 years. This prison endows the male youth offenders
with the opportunities to follow vocational and educational courses. The Grand River North

150SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
West Remand Prison in Mauritius accommodates detainees that are held in remand and
this prison has a maximum-security prison.
The Mauritius Prison Service established in 2012, accommodated 2702 adult detainees in
Mauritius and 32 detainees in Rodrigues. Majority of the prisons are overcrowded, old, fail
to meet the modern minimum standards for in-cell sanitation, and had inadequate facilities for
the constructive activities (MacClancy 2017). However, the operation of Melrose Prison in
2013 shall provide modern prison accommodation and ensures to endow the detainees with
effective and proper management systems. It shall further conduct review and reduce the use
of the prison estates.
4.2 Law and Rehabilitation of Prisoners
Although the management systems of the detainees in the penal institutions did not undergo
any significant changes, it cannot be disregarded that some essential rehabilitative services
have been implemented effectively (Hordvik 2016). The penal institutions have recently
undergone certain innovations such as the emergence of the Enhanced Earning Scheme and
the development of a new induction system within the institutions.
The Mauritius Prison Service aims at rehabilitating the detainees by providing numerous
specialist staffs who would endow the inmates with adequate training on education, welfare
services, etc. The non-government organizations also extend their support to the detainees
through the rehabilitative services and programs (Maxwell-Stewart and Nicholson 2017).
Nevertheless, a significant number of prison officers are conferred with the responsibility to
concentrate on the supervision and security of the prisoners or detainees within the prison.
Such prison officers are not involved to take part in the rehabilitative goals of the
imprisonment.
The penal institutions suffer from certain challenges, which are as follows:

151SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The institutions lack first night strategy to ensure safety of detainees especially the
first time detainees. This is important as it often results in substance abusers and an
incline in blood borne diseases;
There is lack of effective induction programs in place to make it certain that the
detainees commence their sentences with information regarding the available
rehabilitative options;
Majority of the prison officers are involved in discharging their responsibilities as
supervisors and guardian of the inmates;
The penal institutions lack case management of the detainees which otherwise would
have been important to ensure each inmates or detainees are individually managed
during their imprisonment;
The inmates are often forced to labor and are subjected to violence conducted very
tactfully due to inadequate security within the prison estate. This is because the
Mauritius Prison Service does not have any objective and neither have they
implemented the actual detainee-risk-assessment tool for classifying detainees as per
the individual risk of escape and other relevant security requirements. As a result,
there is an over-classification of detainees into maximum-security that is
overcrowded.
The penal institutions although compels the political prisoners to labor but lacks an
incentive scheme for the detainees for enabling them to improve their living
standards;
Since the prisons or the penal institutions aims at building a positive and respectful
relationship between the detainees and the staff by improvising the management system of
the prison that should mainly concentrate on safeguarding the community by reducing re-
offending (Cunneen, et al. 2016). This can be achieved if the prison officers are provided

152SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
with adequate training on Integrated Detainee Management System that aims at addressing
the above-mentioned challenges by incorporating the following changes:
First night strategy should be developed to ensure safety and health of detainees
during their first night in prison. It is equally important to adopt a cell sharing
assessment to be carried out before a detainee is accommodated into the cells on his
first night174;
Ann effective induction must be made to inform the prisoners about the prison life,
prison rules, their rights and responsibilities as well as privileges as it would enable
them to return to the community175;
The initial security assessment of the needs of the detainees must commence at the
time of induction and must be undertaken by some competent committee of prison
officers who have been trained to use the assessment instrument176.
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that rehabilitative programs are conducted to
emphasize on the detainees by providing them with spiritual, recreational, educational and
vocational training. Hit is equally important to introduce case management process wherein
the prison officers provides assistance to certain number of assigned detainees to accomplish
174 Pearlman, Laurie Anne, et al. Treating traumatic bereavement: A practitioner's guide.
Guilford Publications, 2014.
175 Howitt, William. Colonization and Christianity: A Popular History of the Treatment of the
Natives by the Europeans in all their Colonies. Library of Alexandria, 2017.
176 Campbell, Joseph E. The Pentecostal Holiness Church, 1898-1948: Its Background and
History. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016.

153SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
the objectives that have been identified in their individual management plan. It shall enable
them to return to the community and lead a crime free life.
Chapter 5:
Prisons and prisoners in the Bible
In general people are widely familiar with the imprisonment, which is looked at as a
criminal sanction which people often does not realize how unique judicial imprisonment is. In
this regard it can surely be said that power of the cage and the sword are and have been this
entire time recurrent tool which is necessary for human governance. In throughout the history
of humankind, imprisonment was used not as a medium to punish the criminals, but the
prisons served as a holding tank where the criminals were detained before their trial or before
carrying out the order of the curt, be it exile or death sentence or any other things177. The
usage of prolonged incarceration of the legal punishment can be seen as a comparatively new
idea which has been practiced since the advent of 18th century. The emergence of prison
system which is institutionalized was for the humanitarian improvement of the existing
system of punishment178. By this time, prisons were seen as a humane alternative to the
banishment, capital punishment or public humiliation and a strong medium to bring in
reformation in the minds of the criminals, like a way to let them metamorphose in a better
way179. Christianity gives a major impetus in this case, as many researchers tend to believe
177 Clark, Andrew. "Working with guilt and shame." Advances in psychiatric treatment 18.2
(2012): 137-143.
178 Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government: An Essay Concerning the True Original,
Extent and End of Civil Government. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
179 Bottigliero, Ilaria. Redress for victims of crimes under international law. Springer, 2013

154SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
that modern prisons are Christian invention180. The prisoners had to spend a significant
amount of time in isolation that encouraged them to look in retrospect and realize what they
have done is wrong and to metamorphose their minds in a positive manner181. The mentions
of single cells and lone confinements in the Bible can be said were drawn based on the
practices which were employed in the medieval monasteries for disciplining the wayward
monks182. It can be said that back in the Biblical times sword’s power and the power of the
cages or the prisons were the major tools used for human governance. There is a widely
accepted wrong concept regarding the idea of prisons and prisoners that the first prison was
built in the 18th century. This is actually a wrong concept as there are evidences of building
prisons in the Biblical times. There is another widely spread concept that at the primary stage
in the prisons the government used to detain the defendants until the process of trial gets
over. It is astonishing that despite the power of the swords at the Biblical times imprisoning
individuals and executing them was also a part of the judicial system in Israel. The first
experience of getting imprisoned is mentioned in a scripture and it is mentioned that in Israel
imprisoning individuals had a purpose and that was to detain them for committing acts which
were considered as a move against the authority of the government or the church.
180 Walder, Dennis. Dickens and religion. Routledge, 2012.
181 Jimenez, Jillian, et al. Social policy and social change: Toward the creation of social and
economic justice. Sage Publications, 2014.
182 Forell, George W., ed. Christian social teachings: a reader in Christian social ethics from
the Bible to the present. Fortress Press, 2012.

155SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
It is seen that various significant characters in the Biblical stories have served
significant amount of times in the prison and some important characters are Joseph, Junia,
Daniel, Silas, Epaphras and Jesus himself. Jesus was taken into custody in the interim period
of his execution and arrest. In this regard, it can be said that the most recidivist and
renowned prisoner among the Biblical characters is Paul, who had an authentic career in the
penal system183. To address the Christian perspectives regarding the prisons, it should be kept
in mind that, imprisonment serves a range of purposes in the Biblical times and also in
contemporary democratic nations184. The medieval societies were significantly different than
today and there were presence of a Christian theology that kept faith on the power of
repentance185.
5.1: Prisons and Prisoners in the Old Testament
Prison is not at all described as a criminal sanction in the laws of the Old Testament.
Later prisons were introduced in the land of Jerusalem, and that was most probably under
foreign influence. There are some factors that had deterred Israel from making use of the
prisons and those are mentioned in this section.
183 Epps, Daniel. "The consequences of error in criminal justice." Harv. L. Rev. 128 (2014):
1065.
Pollock, Joycelyn M. Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice. Nelson Education,
2014.
184 Chapman, Dennis, ed. Sociology and the Stereotype of the Criminal. Routledge, 2013.
185 Van Ness, Daniel W., and Karen Heetderks Strong. Restoring justice: An introduction to
restorative justice. Routledge, 2014.

156SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Biblical Law favored restitution over the retribution and Restitution was looked at as
a medium of setting wrongs right and to express repentance to God. The
imprisonment of the people who have committed sins does nothing to enable
restitution or repairing the damage186.
The systems of prison actually grown historically along with the development of
armies and military organizations. Israel lagged behind in developing the Military
structure and thus there were no traces of prisons or jails in the long past times in the
land of Israel187.
The experience of Israel regarding imprisonment in Egypt had a significant influence
in the national memory and the social policies. The people of Israel never fail to
remember the age of slavery, God’s action regarding set free the nation from
servitude, and thus, people of Israel never used slavery as a punishment to the people
of the land. It is a matter of fact that Hebrew slavery was more humane than the
modern day idea of imprisonment as slaves were permitted to participate in regular
community and family life.
Israel had a sense of communal responsibility regarding obedience towards the
convention, and stood firm against the individual scapegoating. When people commits
and wrong actions, the people of the land as a whole bore the consequences188.
186 Goldman, Barry, and Russell Cropanzano. "“Justice” and “fairness” are not the same
thing." Journal of Organizational Behavior 36.2 (2015): 313-318.
187 Flanagan, Kieran, and Peter C. Jupp, eds. Postmodernity, sociology and religion. Springer,
2016.
188 Schaefer, Lacey, Tara Sams, and Jennifer Lux. "Saved, Salvaged, or Sunk: A Meta-
Analysis of the Effects of Faith-Based Interventions on Inmate Adjustment." The Prison

157SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
It is seen that the prolonged detention or punishment was not in practice in the
Biblical times as a medium of Criminal punishment and it was used for military and political
requirements. Long time imprisonment was a medium of keeping the rival or defeated
enemies to keep under control and also for the people who are not loyal towards the country.
Imprisonment was looked at as a medium of detaining the people before selling them off into
slavery and also putting the prisoners of war to servitude. It has been noticed that in the
Biblical times the idea of prison was a unique one and if an individual looks at the laws of
Old Testament, there is no mention of serving in prison for committing any crime and above
all there are no factual evidence of prisons in the land of Jerusalem. In this regard it is worth
mentioning that in a papyrus a detailed description of the prisons of Egypt was mentioned
and that led the archeologists to believe the fact that the Hebrews had the idea or concept of
prisons and prisoners.
In the ancient world the concept of prison was new and prisons were very rare at that time.
To justify this statement it can be said that if anyone looks at the laws of Old Testament, it
will be clear for that person that in the old times the concept of serving a sentence in the
prison was not at all widely accepted for committing any sort of sins. It can be seen that there
are no evidence of a prison in the holy land of Jesus and the prison sentence of Joseph that is
found in the book of Genesis is written that he served his prison sentence in one of the
prisons in the land of Egypt. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that for a reason at that
time Egypt was famous for the name ‘Place of Confinement’. At that point of time Egypt
was one of the few countries in all over the world where there were number of prisons. It can
b e said that the largest prison in the Egypt had acquired the name ‘The place of confinement’
and later the name was acquired by the country itself. At a point of time the royal family of
Journal 96.4 (2016): 600-622.

158SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Egypt had numerous slaves whom they gathered from number of wars and legitimate slave
trading custom of that era. The place of Confinement or the main jail of Egypt can be
compared with one of the modern prisons of the world as at that point of time the prison was
divided into two main parts and those were a cell block and a barrack. In the cell blocks
prisoners were confined alone and in the barracks large numbers of prisoners were forced to
serve hard labor in their prison days for the benefit of the government. Various kinds of
sentences were given to the prisoners back then and very little information regarding those
sentences is acquired by now. It can be said that the majority sentences were life sentences at
that time and only a few prisoners served for a shorter time span. At that time the prisoners
did not have the right to defend themselves and the decision regarding their sentences solely
depended on the wish of the royal family who were at charge.
Back when the concept of prison was established the system of prisons grew along with the
development of the military. The legal ethics of the Old Testament was majorly influenced by
the restitution principles and the system of imprisonment never done anything to make
possible restitution for the victims of criminal activities. It can be said that there was a factor
that has influenced the sparsity of the prisons in Israel was renunciation of the Old Testament
where regular scapegoating made crime the responsibility of a few individuals who are evil in
the society.
It is seen that the prolonged detention or punishment was not in practice in the Biblical times
as a medium of Criminal punishment and it was used for military and political requirements.
Long time imprisonment was a medium of keeping the rival or defeated enemies to keep
under control and also for the people who are not loyal towards the country. Imprisonment

159SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
was looked at as a medium of detaining the people before selling them off into slavery and
also putting the prisoners of war to servitude189.
5.2: Prisons and Prisoners in the New Testament
On the other hand, in the New Testament, prisons were seen as an instrument
regarding the religious persecution. The prisoners addressed in the Bible are always seen as
the victims of the injustice and the stories revolving the prisoners are told from the perception
of the prisoners and not from the point of view of the people who are imprisoning the people.
In many parts of the globe in contemporary times prisons are the instruments for political
oppression and there are millions of prisoners all over the world190. In the New Testament the
words of Lamentations 3:34-36 capture God’s consciousness of abuse like this and thus the
responsibility of the mankind should be getting adequate awareness regarding this issue and
protest against it. As it is seen in the New Testament that when the prisoners of the country
are demolished under the foot, and the human rights are distorted in the presence of the most
high and when an individual’s case is challenged, why not God does looks at it191.
189 Smith, Roger. Prisoners on Death Row. Simon and Schuster, 2015.
190 Hays, Joshua. "Reading Scripture in Exile: Favorite Scriptures among Maximum-Security
Inmates Participating in Prison Seminary Programs." Finding Freedom in Confinement: The
Role of Religion in Prison Life (2018): 196.
191 Deuchar, Ross, et al. "‘It's as if you're not in the Jail, as if you're not a Prisoner’: Young
Male Offenders’ Experiences of Incarceration, Prison Chaplaincy, Religion and Spirituality
in Scotland and Denmark." The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice 55.1-2 (2016): 131-
150.

160SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
In the modern day democratic nations prisons are not only used to oppress the
religious or political rivals but also to punish the criminals. This might be seen as a legitimate
way of using prisons. On the other hand there are numerous negative perspectives of the
scriptures that alerts individuals regarding the tendency of the system of imprisonment to
abuse and oppress the individuals in the name of higher goals192. This should caution the
people against the significant reliance on the system of imprisonment as a mean of dealing
with the wrong doing, since, the power to imprison can potentially become a mechanism used
for oppression193. The documents present in the New Testament regarding the demonic and
the spirits might seem awkward for the modern day individuals, but the willingness of the
biblical writers regarding the prison system cannot be dismissed as remains of a primitive
view of the world194. At the outset of Jesus’ ministry can be said is the proclamation of the
liberty of the captives and Jesus declared that the proclamation is satisfied when the servant
of God, a mortal human being has the authority over the power and principles, should
announce freedom of those who are confined by the use of power. When Jesus’ declaration of
liberty is looked at under the light of resurrection, it can be said that Jesus led captivity
captive or that he might have captured captivity195. It can be said that the term gospel carries
192 Rogers, Helen. "Women and Prison." (2016): 469-472.
193 Jang, Sung Joon, et al. "Images of God, Religious Involvement, and Prison Misconduct
among Inmates." Corrections (2017): 1-21.
194 Meade, Benjamin, and Riane M. Bolin. "Religion and Prison Violence." Finding Freedom
in Confinement: The Role of Religion in Prison Life (2018): 93.
195 Jones, E. Allen, and Alan Scharn. "Prison and the Bible: Current Practices and Reflections
from Isaiah." International Journal of Public Theology 10.2 (2016): 211-231.

161SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
the meaning of ‘the good news of victory’ but quite unlike the gospel of ancient Rome, the
gospel of Jesus declares victory over the captivity, principalities and also over the power of
death. The kings and the generals used to celebrate their military gospels with parades where
the prisoners and the statues of the Gods of the conquered nation were led through the roads
of the nation who was victorious. It has been observed in the New Testament that when Jesus
Christ disarmed the authorities and the rulers, he made a public display of the conquered
individuals in his victory parade196. At the synagogue of Nazareth, Christ read out the words
for the liberty of the captives and then he stated that God seeks to aid the oppressed. His
narrative was so overwhelming that it censured a religious luxury to ascertain the God may
appear any day for the aid of the oppressors and to judge and transform ways of the world.
Under the light of the sufferings caused by confinements to oppress the poor, it has been seen
that imprisonment has been used in various scriptures as a metaphor for numerous form of
the distresses of the mankind. It is a matter of fact that there is a close relation between the
spirit of death and the imprisonment197. In the New Testament, prison was not looked at as a
material entity or mere social institution, but instead of that it was looked at as a sort of living
death or a spiritual reality. Jesus not only talked about the psychological or spiritual liberation
196 Morag, Michal, and Elly Teman. "The “Watchful Eye of God” The Role of Religion in the
Rehabilitation and Reentry of Repentant Jewish Prisoners." International journal of offender
therapy and comparative criminology (2017): 0306624X17698054.
197 Jang, Sung Joon, et al. "Religion and misconduct in “Angola” prison: Conversion,
congregational participation, religiosity, and self-identities." Justice Quarterly (2017): 1-31.

162SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
of the imprisoned individuals but he also talked regarding freeing individuals from the
ideological systems and material structures that loot the dignity and freedom from them198.
His narrative was so overwhelming that it censured a religious luxury to ascertain the God
may appear any day for the aid of the oppressors and to judge and transform ways of the
world. Under the light of the sufferings caused by confinements to oppress the poor, it has
been seen that imprisonment has been used in various scriptures as a metaphor for numerous
form of the distresses of the mankind. It is a matter of fact that there is a close relation
between the spirit of death and the imprisonment. In the New Testament, prison was not
looked at as a material entity or mere social institution, but instead of that it was looked at as
a sort of living death or a spiritual reality. Jesus not only talked about the psychological or
spiritual liberation f the imprisoned individuals but he also talked regarding freeing
individuals from the ideological systems and material structures that loot the dignity and
freedom from them. At that point of time the concept of prison was more like underground
dungeons or pits in the ground in most cases. Thus the prisoners who had to serve a long time
in the prison, generally loses life expectancy in a significant manner. In the New Testament
it is mentioned that after serving a prolonged time in the prison, when Jeremiah was called in
for interrogation, he asked to let him get back to the prison as he assumed that after living in
the dark chambers of the prison in the bright day light he may cease to live. In this regard it is
worth mentioning that the modern day prisons are more like amusement parks or luxurious
hotels when they are compared with the prisons of the ancient era. It is a matter of fact that
the modern day prisons are more humane for their treatment of the prisoners as back in the
old times awareness regarding the well being of the prisoners were almost nothing. In the
198 Curran, Kathryn. "Why God Is Often Found Behind Bars: Prison Conversions and the
Crisis." Second Chances As Transformative Stories Rhd V3 2&3 3.2 (2015): 161-184.

163SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
biblical times, imprisonment for a long period of time was a sign of criminal punishment and
which was used especially for military and political purpose. In the biblical times the basic
need of a prison was to serve as a tool for religious persecution and in most cases the
prisoners were depicted as the victims of various types of injustice. In this regard, it can be
said that nowadays also the prisons at many occasion serve as a tool for political oppression.
It is important to mention that from the words of Lamentations 3:34-36 show the awareness
of God regarding these types of abuses and it is mentioned there that it should be the duty of
the individuals to increase awareness regarding this and protest against these practices when
required:
“When all the prisoners of the land are crushed under foot, when human rights are perverted
in the presence of the Most High, when one’s case is subverted — does the Lord not see it?”
According to the verses of New Testament it can be perceived that the concept of
freedom actually refers to spiritual freedom that the Christian Gospel brings in as a form of
freedom from various kinds of despair, selfishness and sins. In the New Testament it is found
that there was an increasing concern for the prisoners and for the people who ran the prisons.
It can be said that the prisons in Biblical times are generally parts of oppression and injustice
that can be compared with the extension of the spirit of death. Due to this the Biblical
reflection regarding the prison is highly negative. It can be said that nowhere in the evidences
are mentioned that the prisons served for the society or the concept of prison and prisoners
helped the society to improve the living conditions of the individuals. The negative impacts
of the prisons in the Biblical times forced the individuals to believe that God wants to set free
the captives as they also have the rights to live properly and at that time the treatment of the
prisoners were horrible. In this regard the Psalmist speaks of a God has to be mentioned and

164SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
that is; “looks down from his holy height, from heaven…to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die.”
Thus it can be said that God who is responsible for making earth heaven and the sea and the
powerful almighty that gave birth of the humankind should not tolerate the pain and suffering
of his wards and should thus execute the criminals and set the people free who are suffering
for no valid reason. It can also be said that Jesus did not only talk about the psychological or
spiritual liberation but also for those who were imprisoned for political and religious
oppression. The most ironical incident was that while fighting for this cause, Jesus had to pay
with the cost of his own freedom and eventually his own life.

165SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
It can be said that to successfully rehabilitate individuals who have committed any sort of
crimes it would be necessary to improve the conditions of the prisons and also to increase the
awareness regarding the prison education. It would be necessary to understand the
requirements of the prisoners in order to provide them with improved prison conditions. The
first and foremost component of improving the conditions of the prisons is education in the
relevant field, as it would create scope for the individuals who are imprisoned to improve
their skills in both the areas which are vocational and also functional. These opportunities can
be increased by professional help as in that way the professionals can teach various things to
the prisoners to make them aware of the situation and to improve their skills and importance
of improving functional and vocational skills.
The island of Mauritius was uninhabited until the colonization process initiated by the
Dutch army in the 16th century. However they abandoned the place by the year of 1710 due to
various reasons. After almost five years the French army claimed the land and later in the
year of 1721 the British army colonized the land and named it Mauritius. The British army
took charge of the island during the Napoleonic wars and later by the year of 1807 the slave
trade was abolished and at that point of time slaves were used to contribute in expanding the
plantation in the island. In the year of 1835 when the slave trading got abolished, somehow
70000 slaves were detained by their ex owners by the institution of apprenticeship. The
history of penal confinement under the British rule in Mauritius is heavily dependent on the
political economy of the nation. The combination of eradicating the criminals from the
society while displaying the imposed penalty publicly that included hard labour and
imprisonment immensely helped the British government to establish the procedure of
colonizing the land. In this regard it should be mentioned that the prisoners are definitely not
the indirect agents in this penal process and they can be used and challenged prison regimes
as a tool for the amelioration of their living and working conditions. In this regard it is worth

166SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
mentioning that the prisons of Mauritius at that time became significantly political arenas
where the changing type of the colonial relations and the regulation of slave labour was
contested and expressed.
Mauritian jails were associated with political arenas where the modifying nature of the
colonial relations and the regulations of labor were exposed. In the history of imprisonment
in British Colonial Mauritius was linked with the political economy and the metropolitan
government. The past records of the penal confinement in the British colonial Mauritius are
connected with the political economy of the island. The island of Mauritius is situated in the
Southwest of Indian Ocean.
Imprisonment and hard labor were a known case during the period of French colonial
with the fact that the detainees threatened them. The detention facilities that are used by the
INS should be show the status of non-accused and non-criminal of all the detainees. The
prison institutions of Mauritius have improved over the years due to the development, rules
and regulations. The INS must not keep the detainees in the local jails or any other facility for
holding the criminal populations. Asylum seekers must not be detained in any condition. The
basic right of an individual is to make sure that one must not be imprisoned for seeking
asylum in Africa. Mauritius is an island where even immigrants are kept in the prison. Few of
the immigration detainees cannot be banished on the fact that they are stateless or neither
their own country nor any third country will accept them with open arms. According to the
Human Rights, when immigration detainees are held and they are not aware about the time
they will be released, their detention becomes arbitrary even if the basic detention was carried
out with law. The local prisons are not appropriate to hold immigrants and asylum seekers.
They are also not allowed to share cells or any kind of living area with the local inmate
populations in the facilities of the prison institutions. There are plenty of prison institutions
set up in Maldives and has improved over the years with the new amendments and set ups.

167SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Physical restraints are applied to protect the detainees who are a danger to others and also to
themselves. Complaint procedures should be applied to allow the detainees to lodge
complaints that are related to the conditions of the ill treatment by officials and inmates. The
staff of the jail receives the complaints and it should be forwarded immediately to the local
district officers. The members of the jail staff must reply to the complaints in a fair and
proper manner and therefore it should fully explain their replies. In this regard, it is
noteworthy to mention here that all these responses should be forwarded to the local officer
and the proposed detention must oversight office in the headquarters. Detainees in the prison
institutions of Mauritius should be given the permission to take part in various vocational,
educational programs and other programs that are available to the criminal inmates but the
authorities of the prison or the officials should have the power to comprehend that criminal
rehabilitation is not an appropriate goal of administrative detention. In the prisons of
Mauritius, the detainees must be given the permission to work inside the jail under the same
circumstances and under the same conditions as local inmates. These jails have improved
over the years by specially training on the needs of the immigration detainees and asylum
seekers. Among the jail officials or authorities, some staff conversed with the detainees by
speaking their languages. Otherwise, detainees were shifted to such a facility where the staffs
were able to correspond to them. The jails created and started proper visitation policies and
programs for the detainees. Contact visits were allowed and minor children were also given
the permission to visit. Extension was also being allowed on certain circumstances.
Prevention and restrictions on visitors were made limited by requiring proof of identity and
detainee. In these prison imprisonments, the legal representatives were permitted to visit the
detainees by producing only the name of the detainees. No evidence of legal representation
was required. Paralegals and certified representatives were given the permission to visit
legally on the similar terms such as attorneys, medical personnel or other assistants in the

168SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
legal visit. The representatives of the non-governmental organizations were required to
provide proper identification of organizational affiliation if they wished to visit the detainee.
Proper access to media and journalists were permitted to visit the prison institutions and were
allowed to take the interviews of the detainees. However, these prison institutions have been
improving year by year but it still it will always remain a prison despite all the improvements
and developments in the situations and conditions. The detainees locked in criminal prisons
have limited ability in English language and had possibility of deportation and immigration
detainees were made both emotionally and physically. In many prisons of Mauritius the rules
governing the daily communication with the people of the outside world. Access to phones
were not permitted in the prison institutions. International standards identified the
significance of the ability of the detainees to communicate with and receive visits by friends
or family they have been detained. The process of communication is essential as when
detainees have to inform friends or families that they have been detained or to make sure that
they have been transmitted. As per the international law, it prohibits the arbitrary detention
and requires that the detained individuals must be brought directly to the judge or any other
judicial authority. When the detainees are made to wait for a year or more to see an
immigration judge, it is difficult to imagine that such detention is not arbitrary. This
requirement is for all who are held in detention whether they are administratively detained or
criminally accused. The local jails that are visited by the Human Rights is usually governed
by immigration law materials. Sentences of imprisonment and hard labor were regular or
ordinary during the time of French colonial period with the threat of the chain gang part of
the colonial penal against the offences. The connection between hard labor and imprisonment
continued with the assumption of the Britain to supervise and control Mauritius. Based on the
number of detainees, they are made to work accordingly in the prison. The prison institutions
of Mauritius have a proper disciplinary procedure in their jail rules but there is no such

169SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
guarantee that these procedures will be followed. Few of the detainees in the local jails stated
that they were being punished without a chance to defend themselves. On the other hand, it
was observed that the detainees in the course of their duties were threatening the prison
authorities by walking extra miles along the detainees. The detainees of the prison used to
threaten the prison authorities for their own benefit. The threatening was done because the
detainees wanted to visit their family and to get out of the prison. In some jurisdictions, there
are different words used to denote if the places of detention hold people who are waiting for
the trial. Prison management requires to operate within an ethical framework. Without a
strong ethical context, when one group of individuals are given power over another, it easily
becomes an abuse of power. The staff of the prison institutions usually works in an isolated
environment over time that make them inflexible. The authority of the prison are trains and
manages the needs that are formed to guard against insularity. The detainees tend to threaten
the authority but the staff needs to remain sensitive to the alteration in the wider society from
which the prisoners come and to which they will return. This situation is important in
situations where the prisons are located remotely and the staff lives in accommodation
attached to the prison. Working in the prison needs an unique combination of the personal
qualities and technical skills. It is essential to know that the public and the media should be
aware of the values within which the prisons operate. Prison administrations should persuade
prison directors to meet on a regular basis with groups.
Mauritius itself is an isolated and sea bound island space, which was attractive enough
as an area for exile, banishment or transportation. Many prison administrations of the prison
institutions of Mauritius have complexity in recruiting staff of a high quality. There are
plenty of reasons for this cause. The administration of the prison must have specific targets
that supply recruits to the prison system. They should be provided sufficient information
about the role of staff and the kind of people that would want to work in the prison system

170SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
and that they would have a future in the public service. In the prison institutions of Mauritius,
maximum number of prisoners responses to the legitimate orders. The prison authority should
always keep a track of the prisoners’ activities and treat them as human beings. The prison
institutions of Mauritius claim that the aim of punishment in a society is to prevent offending
and reoffending. There are various methods by how a sentence of imprisonment can be
fulfilled199. Firstly, retribution suggests a symbolic kind of punishment in the case of
imprisonment on the offender for a crime that has been committed. Secondly, the purpose of
prevention is to prevent the commission of crime through any kind of threat or negative
results from the commission of crime. Thirdly, the process of incapacitation is to prevent the
crimes through delivering the offender who are incapable of committing further crimes if
removed from the society and incarcerated in prison. This theory proves to be unsuccessful if
the possibility of committing further acts of crime within the prison community fails.
Fourthly, rehabilitation is accepted to mean a planned intervention that aimed to bring
alteration in some aspect of the offender that is to cause the criminality of the offender. The
criminalities included mental health and cognitive processes200. The intervention is done in
order to make the offender break the law in the future. Lastly, the process of reintegration is
suggests that a person must reintroduce into the community with the purpose of living in a
law abiding manner. It defines a situation of full and active participation by ex-offenders.
This preparation for reintegration occurs in prison. In 1998, the legislation was revised by
South Africa to bring about the modification with the principles of international human rights
and correctional norms. The countries of Africa have aspired to bring the changes in the
rehabilitation and development of the prisoners. Therefore, majority of the African countries
focus on the vocational training, spiritual development and education instead of the
199 Clapham, Andrew. Human rights: a very short introduction. OUP Oxford, 2015
200 Cunneen, Chris, et al. Penal culture and hyperincarceration: the revival of the prison. Routledge, 2016

171SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
psychological and behavioral aspects. The sentenced prisoners are generally targeted with
such procedures and processes of rehabilitation and reformation. Prisons are not considered
to be as the best institutions in which the process of rehabilitation takes place and hence they
do not produce the best outcomes. The ultimate aim of rehabilitation is to make offenders less
likely to reoffend on their release from prison. However, the detainees gets all aggressive and
threatens the authority to get out of prison.
In the conclusion it can be stated that a prison institution will always remain a prison
in spite of the growth and development that took place over the years. It will not be a five star
prison even if all the facilities are provided to the detainees. The authority of the prison
cannot let the detainees threaten them. The prison institutions have to form policies and
procedures to stop the detainees from threatening the authority. Majority of the prison
systems are disciplined organizations but this does not state that the staff should be treated
unreasonably201. They must be treated with respect for the position they are in. The trade
unions and other staff must not be penalized for the work that they do in representing their
fellow members or the staff. However, from the above research it can be finally concluded
that the prisons institutions of Mauritius are improving and developing year by year but a
prison will remain the same even if it turns to a five star one with extra facilities.
201 De Vito, Christian G., Ralf Futselaar, and Helen Grevers. "Introduction: incarceration and regime
change." Incarceration and regime change: European prisons during and after the Second World War.
Berghahn Books, 2016. 1-14

172SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
In the conclusion it can be stated that a prison institution will always remain a prison
in spite of the growth and development that took place over the years. It will not be a five star
prison even if all the facilities are provided to the detainees. The authority of the prison
cannot let the detainees threaten them. The prison institutions have to form policies and
procedures to stop the detainees from threatening the authority. Majority of the prison
systems are disciplined organizations but this does not state that the staff should be treated
unreasonably. They must be treated with respect for the position they are in. The trade unions
and other staff must not be penalized for the work that they do in representing their fellow
members or the staff. However, from the above research it can be finally concluded that the
prisons institutions of Mauritius are improving and developing year by year but a prison will
remain the same even if it turns to a five star one with extra facilities.
Chapter 6. Responses of the Church towards Prisoners in Mauritius
6.1. Recent Past Involvement of Churches
The Churches in Mauritius have contributed quite an amount towards the
rehabilitation of the prisoners and their spiritual development especially through the
implementation of various programs202. In the recent past, the churches in Mauritius have
involved themselves with the prisoners through their initiatives of the Prison Ministry body.
The Prison Ministry of Mauritius serves a goal to create an awareness of the humanity of
each person and to demonstrate the love of God203. The role of the Prison Ministry is to
202 Polizzi, David, Michael Braswell, and Matthew Draper. Transforming corrections:
Humanistic approaches to corrections and offender treatment. Carolina Academic Press,
2014.
203 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

173SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
provide aid to the downtrodden and broken people in their self-realization as God’s child
without the influence or pressure of any judgment or doctrine.
The churches in Mauritius have previously undertaken programs in association with
the prison ministries to embark the prison inmates on a spiritual journey with the help of the
words of God204. The wisdom of the words of the God is presented to them by the prison
ministries and chaplains aiming at a spiritual reformation of the prisoners205. The churches
have created accessible materials for the purpose of reading for the prisoners for them to
ponder on the teachings of Jesus and the transformation that His teachings can bring into the
lives of the people206. The Prison Ministries have helped the inmates to understand the
significance of repentance, forgiveness and restoration207. Evidently, the prisoners of
Mauritius have shown collective expression of joy and love for the Lord rendered from the
services of the churches available behind the prison walls208.
204 Beckford, James A. "Religious diversity in prisons: chaplaincy and contention." Studies in
Religion/Sciences Religieuses 42.2 (2013): 190-205.
205 Becci, Irene. "Languages of change in prison: thoughts about the homologies between
secular rehabilitation, religious conversion, and spiritual quest." Religious Diversity in
European Prisons. Springer, Cham, 2015. 159-176.
206 Cullen, Francis T., and Karen E. Gilbert. Reaffirming rehabilitation. Routledge, 2013.
207 Polizzi, David, Michael Braswell, and Matthew Draper. Transforming corrections:
Humanistic approaches to corrections and offender treatment. Carolina Academic Press,
2014.
208 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

174SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The churches in Mauritius have also undertaken various educational programs for the
prison inmates209. Inmate education is a major part of rehabilitation and reformation of the
criminals. The church officials and the religious practitioners offer education that is not just
religious but also worldly to the inmates of the Mauritius prison210. The church provides
education to the detainees that are not limited to any particular doctrine211. The education of
the inmates provides them with perspectives on the significance to lead a crime-free life. The
churches in Mauritius have always aimed towards a holistic reformation of the prisoners and
have not focused just on the criminal perspectives212. The Churches treat the prisoners equally
as any other child of the God and the educational and humanitarian movements of the church
have successfully transformed a wide range of prisoners213.
209 Behan, Cormac. "Learning to escape: Prison education, rehabilitation and the potential for
transformation." Journal of Prison Education and Reentry 1.1 (2014): 20-31.
210 Cullen, Francis T., and Karen E. Gilbert. Reaffirming rehabilitation. Routledge, 2013.
211 Ali, Mir Azmath, and Joy Deshmukh Ranadive. "Promoting literacy for prisoners'
rehabilitation." Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC), 2015 IEEE. IEEE,
2015.
212 Chui, Wing Hong, Kevin Kwok-yin Cheng, and Lok Ping Wong. "Spirituality and
punitiveness: An exploration of Christian, Buddhist, and non-religious attitudes towards
crime." International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 41.1 (2013): 1-15.
213 Ali, Mir Azmath, and Joy Deshmukh Ranadive. "Promoting literacy for prisoners'
rehabilitation." Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC), 2015 IEEE. IEEE,
2015.

175SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The churches have also adopted initiatives that involve confessional methods. Such
methods involve lending ears to the prisoners and hearing their sides of the stories214. The
representatives of the church would then counsel them towards leading a better and
disciplined life. The churches in Mauritius have also formed various healing and grief
supports groups to help the inmates deal with the difficulties and suffering of the prison
life215. Such works of bereavement provides the inmates ways and strengths to cope up with
their life in jail216. These initiatives taken by the church in walking alongside the prisoners in
their troubled times have shown to bring out in them a humane sign resulting from the feeling
of being heard and cared for217.
In the context of the involvement of the churches towards the prisoners, especially in
Mauritius, it must be said that the initiatives taken by the Church are not just limited to the
prisoners themselves218. The services of the church extend support even to the families of the
prison inmates through various outreach programs. These include social services like
214 Van Voorhis, Patricia, and Emily Salisbury. Correctional counseling and rehabilitation.
Routledge, 2013.
215 Beckford, James A. "Religious diversity in prisons: chaplaincy and contention." Studies in
Religion/Sciences Religieuses 42.2 (2013): 190-205.
216 Ozioko, DENNIS IFEANYICHUKWU. "Influence of religious devotion, self efficacy and
prisoners’ status on the prison inmates manifestation of psychological distress." Unpublished
Master of Science Thesis, Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria Nsukka (2014).
217 Wiernik, Craig S. "Countering culture: religious motivation and adherence to the" inmate
code"." (2013).
218 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

176SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
educational and charity programs219. The churches have also provided spiritual guidance to
the families and friends of the prisoners encouraging them to find hope in each other and to
find solace and support under the guidance and wisdom of the words of Gods220.
It is therefore, obvious to state that the churches have taken significant initiatives in
the recent past towards the spiritual rehabilitation of the prisoners helping them to reach
towards a self-realization on the importance of leading a crime-free and spiritual life. The
initiatives taken by the churches in the recent past to bring about a spiritual change in the
prisoners involve holding programs that promote prison literacy, provide spiritual guidance,
provide counsel to the prisoners, provide support to friends and families of the prisoners, and
provide grief support essential for the healing process of the prisoners221.
6.2. Anglican Engagement
The Anglican Diocese is engaged in active promotion of peace and justice in the
Mauritius. The Prison Ministry established by the Anglican Diocese of Mauritius is referred
to as a journey is association with the prison inmates in Mauritius despite their background or
faith and is known to provide pastoral care and support to the prison inmates222. The Anglican
Diocese realizes that in order to bring about effective reformation in the prisoners it is
219 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
220 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
221 Behan, Cormac. "Learning to escape: Prison education, rehabilitation and the potential for
transformation." Journal of Prison Education and Reentry 1.1 (2014): 20-31.
222 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

177SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
important to treat them not from a perspective of punishment but from a stance that is
essentially empathetic in nature223. The prisons in Mauritius follow strict and inflexible rules
that bind even the religious faiths of inmates within a confined space. The Prison Ministry of
the Anglican Diocese in Mauritius seeks to promote the necessity of spiritual conversion for
the inmates to lead a life away from criminal offences224. They seek at establishing an
effective system of Anglican Chaplaincy within the locked space of the Mauritius prison
walls.
The Anglican Diocese is fundamentally engaged in the reformation of the prisoners in
Mauritius. Through various programs under the Prison Fellowship they have successfully
involved themselves towards the promotion of a better life for the Mauritian prisoners225.
Primarily, the Anglican Church is engaged in therapeutic practices for the inmates that
involve providing an empathetic ear to the prison inmates and providing them with guidance
and counseling226. This method adopted by the Anglican Diocese helps them to engage with
the inmates and look into the psychological build of the inmates that renders better
223 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
224 Polizzi, David, Michael Braswell, and Matthew Draper. Transforming corrections:
Humanistic approaches to corrections and offender treatment. Carolina Academic Press,
2014.
225 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
226 Van Voorhis, Patricia, and Emily Salisbury. Correctional counseling and rehabilitation.
Routledge, 2013.

178SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
understanding of the prisoners and psyche227. This also brings about within the inmates a self-
realization of the sense of humanity and a sense of purpose, which is essential to the
reformation of the prisoners228. Moreover, the members of the Anglican Diocese engage with
the prisoners in providing them with spiritual guidance through holy readings and
instructions229. This kind of engagement is beneficial for the spiritual growth of the prisoners
that enables them to see the differences between right and wrong. The guidance of the words
of God brings in them a transformation that cannot be effected through radical measures of
punishments230. The prison inmates are instructed on the significance of a spiritual journey by
the representatives of the Anglican Church through various media like sermons, scriptures
and the Bible231.
The Anglican Diocese of Mauritius also engages with providing educational support
to the prison inmates promoting prison literacy232. The educational support helps the inmates
in gaining knowledge that increases their prospect of becoming engaged in honest jobs once
227 Ozioko, DENNIS IFEANYICHUKWU. "Influence of religious devotion, self efficacy and
prisoners’ status on the prison inmates manifestation of psychological distress." Unpublished
Master of Science Thesis, Department of Psychology, University of Nigeria Nsukka (2014).
228 Cullen, Francis T., and Karen E. Gilbert. Reaffirming rehabilitation. Routledge, 2013.
229 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
230 Beckford, James A. "Religious diversity in prisons: chaplaincy and contention." Studies in
Religion/Sciences Religieuses 42.2 (2013): 190-205.
231 Hopkins, Keith. Sociological studies in Roman history. Cambridge University Press, 2017
232 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

179SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
their sentence is over233. The Anglican Diocese also engages with the prisoners through
various bereavement programs that help the prisoners to deal with the frustration, grief and
difficulties of jail life. Such measures also work for the therapeutic purpose essential for the
emotional freedom of the inmates providing for the emotional development of the inmates
that is equally necessary besides the intellectual, cognitive and spiritual development of the
inmates234.
There exist various charity and support programs that help the Anglican Diocese to
reach out to the friends and families of the prison inmates as well235. The members of the
Anglican Diocese provide active support to the prisoners, the former prisoners as well as to
the friends and families of the prisoners236. This includes providing for financial support,
educational support, professional support as well as spiritual support to the friends and
families of the prisoners. They engage in active interaction with the friends and families of
the prisoners to provide them with the support necessary to keep the selves together at a time
of crisis237. The spiritual guidance offered by the Anglican Diocese representatives of
Mauritius to the friends and families of the prisoners help them to gather strength and hold on
233 Behan, Cormac. "Learning to escape: Prison education, rehabilitation and the potential for
transformation." Journal of Prison Education and Reentry 1.1 (2014): 20-31.
234Topalli, Volkan, Timothy Brezina, and Mindy Bernhardt. "With God on my side: The
paradoxical relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street
offenders." Theoretical Criminology 17.1 (2013): 49-69.
235 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
236 Wiernik, Craig S. "Countering culture: religious motivation and adherence to the" inmate
code"." (2013).

180SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
to each other in the difficult times238. The Anglican Diocese representatives also visit the
families of the prisoners on regular basis to ensure their well-being. This brings in the
families of the prisoners as well as in the prisoners themselves, a feeling that they are cared
for and a sense of concern that brings about an urge within them to reform themselves.
6.3. Prison Fellowship Mauritius Engagement
There are many programs under the Prison Fellowship that have been undertaken by
the Mauritius Anglican Church. A few among them that require a worthy mention are the
Angel Tree Program, the Sycamore Tree Program and the Alpha course program and
Mother’s Union in Mauritius Diocese. The Mother’s Union is one of the initiatives taken by
the Mauritius Diocese that supports the struggling families inhabiting Mauritius. The
Mother’s Union of the Mauritius Diocese follows a motto “In faith we serve and sow the
future together”239. Moreover, they aim at helping the families of the prisoners who have been
faced with adverse conditions. The ‘Outgate’ project of the Mother’s Union in Mauritius
provides support to the women prisoners in their reintegration within the society and with
their families after the completion of their sentence in the prison240. This initiative is
beneficial in helping the women prisoners gain back their self-esteem and in helping them
237 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
238 Topalli, Volkan, Timothy Brezina, and Mindy Bernhardt. "With God on my side: The
paradoxical relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street
offenders." Theoretical Criminology 17.1 (2013): 49-69.
239 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | MOTHER’S UNION". Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/mothers-union/. Accessed 4 Mar 2018.
240 Soulis, Cameron J. "The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean." The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to
the Anglican Communion (2013): 159-161.

181SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
reconciling with the whole families. The Mother’s Union of the Diocese in Mauritius also
helps the women prisoners develop Vocational skills in order to support them in finding work
once they are released from the prison241. The Mother’s Union in the Mauritius Dioceses is
funded by the Mauritius Government and is associated with the Prison Fellowship of
Mauritius for the successful incorporation and implementation of the program. This particular
program of the Mauritian Diocese assisting the women prisoners is presently supporting 26
prisoners as well as the families of the prisoners242. The Mother’s Union in Mauritius
contains 250 members from the Anglican Diocese of Mauritius who are actively engaged
with the Prison Fellowship program with their objectives aiming at forming fellowship all
over the world for the Christians who are united in prayer, service and worship243.
The Angel Tree program of the Prison Fellowship forms a connection between the
prison inmates and their children outside through the exchange of Christmas gifts244. In
Mauritius, the Anglican Churches voluntarily purchase Christmas gifts for the children of the
prison inmates and deliver it to them along with the Gospel on behalf of the parent who is in
the prison serving his or her sentence245. This program is a rewarding one that serves as an
annual commitment for the Anglican Churches in Mauritius towards what according to them
241 Soulis, Cameron J. "The Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean." The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to
the Anglican Communion (2013): 159-161.
242 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | MOTHER’S UNION". Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/mothers-union/. Accessed 4 Mar 2018.
243 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | MOTHER’S UNION". Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/mothers-union/. Accessed 4 Mar 2018.
244 Vasudevan, Ananya. "Angel Tree Program Essay Word Count: 2,619 International
Academy East."
245 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

182SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
is one of the most neglected communities of the society –the prison inmates246. The program
is executed under the guidance of the pastor of the Anglican Church along with the other
leaders of the Church247. The names of the children are collected from the prisoner parent
who registers for the program along with providing gift suggestions. The members of the
Church then purchase the gifts and delivers them to the children of the prison inmates on their
behalf as well as share the holy Gospel248.
The Anglican Diocese of Mauritius seeks ways to include the ex-offenders into the activities
and services of the church. This is mostly in case of prisoners who undergo a short period of
sentence. This initiative is taken by the Anglican church with a vision to prevent the ex-
offenders from committing further crime since criminals who are imprisoned for a
significantly short period often have a tendency for re-offending249. Serving sentence in the
prison usually tend to aggravate the social factors for exclusion that makes the prisoners
suffer to considerable extent before incarceration250. Most of the prisoners are socially outcast
after their release and are prone to losing their accommodation, employment and financial
support. Hence, the Anglican Church of Mauritius works for supporting these prisoners who
246 Vasudevan, Ananya. "Angel Tree Program Essay Word Count: 2,619 International
Academy East."
247 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
248 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
249 Johnson, Byron R., et al. "Faith and Service: Pathways to Identity Transformation and Correctional
Reform." Finding Freedom in Confinement: The Role of Religion in Prison Life(2018): 3.
250 Appleby, David W., and George Ohlschlager, eds. Transformative encounters: The intervention of God in
Christian counseling and pastoral care. InterVarsity Press, 2013.

183SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
lose their social importance. Moreover, the Christian gospel is an advocate for grace and
justice. The Mauritius Diocese believes that “God forgives those who truly repent” and that
God works through the Church to witness the transformation of human beings251. The
Anglican Church believes that people are capable of changing and that such a change is the
gift of the divine. Hence, the Anglican community of Mauritius invests engage in including
the prisoners in the service of the Church with an objective of bringing a transformative
change in them through divine intervention252. Furthermore, the Church in Mauritius believe
that rehabilitation is the process of helping the offenders to analyze their behavior in solitude
and before God for the purpose of stimulating penance. Hence, the ex-inclusion of offenders
and prisoners in the Church community and its services provides for the prisoners to make
amends for their criminal activities253. The Anglican Church in Mauritius, hence, provides the
prisoners a chance to give back to the society what they had taken from it.
251 Johnson, Byron R., et al. "Faith and Service: Pathways to Identity Transformation and Correctional
Reform." Finding Freedom in Confinement: The Role of Religion in Prison Life(2018): 3.
252 Appleby, David W., and George Ohlschlager, eds. Transformative encounters: The intervention of God in
Christian counseling and pastoral care. InterVarsity Press, 2013.
253 Johnson, Byron R., et al. "Faith and Service: Pathways to Identity Transformation and Correctional
Reform." Finding Freedom in Confinement: The Role of Religion in Prison Life(2018): 3.

184SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The Sycamore Tree program of the Prisoner Fellowship creates an awareness of the
victims among the prisoners. The churches in Mauritius have taken up this initiative to teach
the prison inmates on the principles associated with restorative justice254. The prisoners are
provided with opportunities that enable them to explore and realize the effects that crime has
on the victims, the offenders and the community as a whole and instructs them on the
significance of taking responsibility of their own personal decisions and actions255. The
prisoners are given opportunity to express their repentance in a final session where they often
engage in writing letters and poems or in expressing their regret through artful works256. The
churches in Mauritius adopt such programs to stand as witnesses for such symbolic forms of
restitution257. Such methods adopted by the churches create in the prisoners a self-awareness
of the consequences of their crimes on the individual lives and on the community and
therefore prevents them from further committing such crimes.
The Alpha Course under the Anglican Diocese of Mauritius is a program that offers
in a series of multiple sessions, opportunities for the prisoners to explore the Christian
254 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
255 Hagemann, Otmar. "Exploring and Understanding Victim Empathy." Establishing
Victimology. Mönchengladbach: Hochschule Niederrhein (2014): 223-248.
256 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
257 Higton, Mike, and David Ford. "Religious literacy in the context of theology and religious
studies." Policy Press, 2015. 39-54.

185SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
faith258. Each session is an interactive one that poses different questions around the concept of
faith. The questions often asked and dealt with in these sessions involve who Jesus is, why
had Jesus died, the reason and the process behind reading the Bible, the process behind
inducing faith, who the Holy Spirit is, what is the role of the Holy spirit, how to induce the
Holy Spirit in oneself, how does God heal one, and how to resist the devil259. The Alpha
course is a dominant program in most churches in Mauritius. The Alpha course for the
prisoners helps to induce within the inmates a spiritual and religious knowledge that brings in
them a self-realization that commits them to activities that are spiritual and good260. The
Alpha program brings spiritual development within the inmates preventing them from
committing further crimes261. Instead, the inmates find solace and guidance under the spiritual
dimension of the Alpha course where they are instructed to function under human faith of the
spiritual code. The Alpha Course is not just limited to the Anglican churches of Mauritius
but has been undertaken by the Roman Churches in Mauritius as well262.
258 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
259 Phillips, Peter. Roles and identities of the Anglican chaplain: a prison ethnography. Diss.
Cardiff University, 2013.
260 Phillips, Peter. Roles and identities of the Anglican chaplain: a prison ethnography. Diss.
Cardiff University, 2013.
261 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.
262 "Anglican Diocese Of Mauritius | PRISON MINISTRY." Anglican.Mu, 2018,
http://www.anglican.mu/cs_ministry/prison-ministry/.

186SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Theological framework for prison ministry
The early culture emphasis
Law and contemporary
problems
Definition of Crime
Sociological and
theological Approach
Sociological researches of
administration of justice
Prison as social system
Differences existing between behavioral and sociological approach to crime
Chapter 7
Theological framework for prison ministry

187SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
Chapter 8
Adequacies and inadequacies
The above discussion showed a variety of discussions. The research that has been
done in the project showed a number of adequacies and inadequacies. The research showed a
number of aspects that opined for the spiritual treatment of the criminals. The interviewees
that were conducted showed the fact that the criminals must not be treated only through
punishment but also through the spiritual healing. In maximum cases it has been found that
the criminals found it difficult to return to their normal life after the worst treatment that they
suffered in the prison. They received the punishment and even after the punishment they
committed the same crime. For example a serial killer did not stop with just one murder.
After one murder he was punished for six months and he again committed the same crime.
This was repeated as a cycle. He again was punished and he was kept in the prison for
another some more years. The prisons apart from the Anglican ministry believe in the strict
treatment of the criminals. It is evident in the interview that was conducted of the prison
officer. He revealed the fact that the criminals had to deal in the strictest way. They acted to
be knave. This is the reason they should be treated in a strict manner from the beginning
itself. This is contradictory to the treatment offered by the Anglican Prison Ministry. The
Ministry believes in the religious treatment of the prisoners. By interviewing many ex-
detainees and detainees this has been extracted that they found the treatment offered by the
Anglican Ministry of Mauritius was more desirable. They followed the biblical treatment of
the church.
The punishment itself saw a transformation and the ways to deal the punishments varied from
the Old Testament to the New Testament. The Old Testament witnessed punishments like

188SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
banishment and public humiliation. The criminals were imposed with huge amount of fine.
This was a part of the public humiliation. They were sometimes stoned to death. There was a
gradual progress of the punishment in the New Testament. The New Testament completely
followed the Christian belief. In the New Testament the criminals were completely left in the
hands of God. The criminals were allowed to experience a spiritual transformation. The
prisons in the New Testament believed that the criminals should stay in the presence of god.
According to the New Testament a Christian would say that there is always a hope that an
offender could be reformed or rehabilitated. Therefore the punishment meted out to criminals
should always allow for the possibility that they could reform. It is further mentioned in the
New Testament that even the hardest criminal have the right to receive the forgiveness of
God. The Churches that assists the prisons and the ministries look forward to the New
Testament. The bible opines for the fact that humans are the creations of god and therefore
only god has the power to forgive them or punish them. The prisoners can have the right to
get forgiveness for their crime. This takes towards a wider link between sin and forgiveness.
The bible teaches that all people have messed up and they have gone against the will of God.
All people fall short of the standards of god. According to the Christians God became human
and he came to the world in the form of Jesus Christ. He died on a cross as a way of taking
the punishment that the people deserve. The Christians believe that it is because of the death
of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus that Christians believe that humans can have sins
forgiven. There are many prisons in the world that follows the Old Testament. They follow
the religious thought but they belong to the other school of belief. This is the biggest
inadequacies that exist in the system. The detainees and the ex-detainees mentioned in the
interview that they got good and effective treatment from the ministries. The public
humiliation created a trauma in them and it simply created a temporary fear in them but it
could not stop the crime. In order to overcome the inadequacies of the strict treatment in the

189SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
prison the biblical treatment should be stressed upon. The Churches and the NGOs who are
involved in such works can improve the existing system and can work upon it. They have the
power to change the society and their thoughts regarding the criminals.
8.1 Recommendation
From the above discussion this can be recommended that the prisoners should be
given a moral and a spiritual treatment. The prisons in Mauritius fail to provide all the
advanced facilities that can be offered. They do not abide by the norm of keeping the prisons
clean. The Mauritius Prison Service fails to maintain the advanced standard of the prisons.
The prisoners are not provided with the advanced standards of sanity. The management is not
proper. This should be improved and it should be looked after. The most important thing that
should be changed is the perspective through which the criminals are judged. They are looked
upon as someone who has no right to live in the society. This perspective should be changed.
The main intention should be to eradicate the crimes from the society. To do this the
criminals should be seen from different point and they should be a treated in a justifiable
manner. The treatment towards them turns out to be more painful and dangerous than their
crimes. Moreover there is no development plan about them. The prisons must have some
amount of developmental plans centering the prisoners. Peace and justice are the two
concepts that should be focused on. In Mauritius all the prison ministries are not well
developed. They should be well developed and they should put forward the thought of peace
and resurrection. It has been observed that by putting the prisoners in proper correctional
homes the percentage of the criminals has become less in number. In Mauritius there is not
much ministries where the criminals are given the moral treatment. The Anglican Ministries
should be increased in number as it is more acceptable by the detainees and the criminals.
This is the reason this system should prevail and it should be promoted. Apart from this the
Churches and the NGOs should show more involvement towards the Anglican Ministry. The

190SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
government should take few steps to carry on this effort. The government should look after
every Anglican Ministry and should check the facilities and should make efforts to improve
the facilities that are present in the Ministries. They should develop some programs that can
help the ministries to recover the criminals. The prison officers should be trained to treat the
prisoners more softly and the some spiritual form of punishment should prevail in the prisons.
The other important thing that should be considered is the factors that are responsible for
committing the crime. However the criminals should be offered with some education in the
prison so that they can have a rational idea of things before committing any crimes. This
would enable the prisoners to indulge in some amount of fruitful job. The education can
reduce the amount of crimes from the society.
Conclusion
While concluding the work it can be mentioned that this project has seen the two
schools of thoughts. One school of thought believes in the fact that the prisoners are brought
in the prisons as they have found to commit some crime and they should be treated in a strict
manner. They should receive a torturous treatment. The prison officers and even the
government support the fact that the rehabilitation of the prisoners cannot work. However this
idea is not supported by many. For this particular project many researches were conducted
and the interviews were taken of the detainees, the ex-detainees and the present detainees.
The interview of the Churches that are attached with the Anglican Ministry has been taken.
The interview of the NGOs who are working with the ministries as well for the society has
been taken. By analyzing their interview this can be extracted that they opine for the fact that
the prisoners should receive a humble treatment. They should experience peace in the prison.
The Anglican Ministry of Mauritius has been taken into account for this. The criminals are
healed with the help of different spiritual programs that are discussed in the project. These
programs are helpful for the criminals and they turn out to be effective in maximum cases.

191SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
The criminals receive a bad treatment even from the society. The worst part of it is the stigma
that remains with the criminals. The Ministries makes effort to remove the stigma from the
criminals so that they are able to recover from the trauma. According to the Christian belief
the criminals are the humans and even they have the right to get forgiveness from god. Even
God had to go through the process of receiving the punishment and he begged for
forgiveness. The Christian belief opined for the fact that the criminals can be rectified only if
they were forgiven. The barbaric treatment like stoning down the person who was found
guilty to death was a practice that could bring about no change in the behavior and the
attitude of the criminals. The percentage of the criminals did not decrease in the society. On
the other hand with the spiritual treatment brought about huge change in the behavior of the
criminals. Rather they were able to overcome the stigma they had to face which was more
harmful than the crime itself. The treatment towards the criminals has always remained
different throughout ages. It has changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament and
from the mediaeval age to the modern age. The percentage of the crime and the process of
their treatment never remained stagnant. Out of this many opted for punishment as the best
way to treat the criminals, on the other hand many opted counseling and the spiritual
transformation as the better way to treat the accused. Debates related to this continued
throughout the ages but from a detailed survey and by analyzing the secondary data and by
conducting an interview this can be stated boldly that the moral values proved to be more
effective and was more acceptable. This created a spiritual transformation in a prisoner and
he was able to lead a good life after this. There is a distinct difference between crime and
deviance. The violation of the established rules and regulations are known as the crime. On
the other hand deviance is the behavior that tells about the behaviors that depart from the
normal one and are looked down upon by the society to make people desist from these
behaviors. Fear of God’s curse and punishment in hell are supposed to keep people behave

192SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
according to social norms as there is no written law to deal with deviant behavior. Societal
boycott and ostracism are the ways through which society normally deals with deviance. The
study has concentrated on the liberal and the conservative thoughts of crime. The justification
for both the thoughts has been considered in the study. The thing that is clear is that crime
and deviance are caused due to some sociological as well as some psychological reasons. The
theology of the crime has a broader meaning and this is studied in the entire thesis. All the
conditions should be analyzed before drawing a conclusion to the activities related to crime
and criminology.

193SOCIOLOGICAL AND THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF CRIMINALS
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