The “watchful eye of god”: the role of religion in the rehabilitation and reentry of repentant Jewish prisoners

Can participation in a religious rehabilitation program benefit a released prisoner’s reentry into the community, and if so, how? Which elements of the religious worldview can be translated into tools for promoting desistance? Using a qualitative approach, we conducted 30 interviews with released pr...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Morag, Michal (Author) ; Teman, Elly (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
Year: 2018, Volume: 62, Issue: 7, Pages: 2103-2126
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Crime desistance
Jewish criminology
Positive criminology
Rehabilitation
Spiritual criminology
Religion
Resozialisierung
Glaube
Judentum
Description
Summary:Can participation in a religious rehabilitation program benefit a released prisoner’s reentry into the community, and if so, how? Which elements of the religious worldview can be translated into tools for promoting desistance? Using a qualitative approach, we conducted 30 interviews with released prisoners from 3 months to 5 years beyond release who participated in a Jewish faith-based rehabilitation program administered by Israel’s Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority. We interviewed participants in the Torah Rehabilitation Program about the role of religion in their lives and in their desistance from crime. We map out the spiritual, behavioral, and psychological tools they feel aided them in facing the challenges of reentry.
ISSN:1552-6933
DOI:10.1177/0306624X17698054