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April 2006

Volume 49, Number 1
[The Journal of Law and Economics, vol. 49 (April 2006)]
© 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
0022-2186/2006/4901-0006$01.50
DOI: 10.1086/501087

Does Religion Really Reduce Crime?*

Paul Heaton

University of Chicago

Abstract

Considerable research in sociology, criminology, and economics aims to understand the effect of religiosity on crime. Many sociological theories positing a deterrent effect of religion on crime are empirically examined using ordinary least squares (OLS) cross‐sectional regressions of crime measures on measures of religiosity. Most previous studies have found a negative effect of religion on crime using OLS, a result I am able to replicate using county‐level data on religious membership and crime rates. If crime affects religious participation, however, OLS coefficients in this context suffer from endogeneity bias. Using historic religiosity as an instrument for current religious participation, I find a negligible effect of religion on crime and a negative effect of crime on religion. To further explore the relationship between religion and crime, I examine variation in crime incidence before and after Easter. Consistent with the instrumental variables results, I find no evidence of a decrease in crime following Easter.

Cited by

Paolo Buonanno, Daniel Montolio, and Paolo Vanin. (2009) Does Social Capital Reduce Crime?. The Journal of Law and Economics 52:1, 145-170
Online publication date: 1-Feb-2009.
Abstract-Full Text-PDF Version (626 kB)

  • *I wish to thank Dennis Carlton, Jeremy Fox, Steve Levitt, Jesse Shapiro, Marie Tomarelli, and Mathis Wagner for helpful advice and suggestions and gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Science Foundation and the National Consortium on Violence Research. All opinions are my own.

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