Title

Public Support For Faith-Based Correctional Programs: Should Sacred Places Serve Civic Purposes?

Keywords

Correctional policy; Faith-based programs; Public opinion; Rehabilitation; Religion and crime

Abstract

In light of President Bush's enthusiastic support and numerous initiatives, there is a growing call to fund "faith-based" social service programs, including those focused on juvenile and adult offenders. These programs are controversial because they seek to reconfigure the line separating church and state. Based on a national 2001 survey of 327 respondents, we assessed public support for this policy initiative. Themajor findings were: (1) the respondents were divided evenly on whether the government should fund faith-based correctional programs; (2) a clear majority opposed having a religious content to the programs; (3) most opposed discrimination on religious grounds in the hiring of program staff; (4) a clear majority favored funding all religious groups as opposed to only "Christian churches" and (5) the respondents did not view faith-based programs asmore, or less, effective than traditional correctional rehabilitation programs. The study also explored the policy implications of these findings. © 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

1-1-2007

Publication Title

Journal of Offender Rehabilitation

Volume

45

Issue

3-4

Number of Pages

29-46

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1300/J076v45n03_02

Socpus ID

42649131691 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/42649131691

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