Introduction: Religion, Faith and Crime in Context; Kim Sadique and Perry Stanislas.- Part I. Historical and Theoretical Context.- Chapter 1. The Effect of Religion on Crime and Deviancy: Hellfire in the 21st Century; Kim Sadique.- Chapter 2. Is Lex Talionis ‘Caput’ in a Modern CJS: The Religio-Cultural Context of Punishment; Kim Sadique.- Chapter 3. Disability and Religious Cosmologies-A New Interpretation of Disablist Hate; Alan Roulstone.- Chapter 4. Faith, Mental Health & Deviance: Possession or Illness?; Stephen Handsley.- Chapter 5. Theorising Religion, Crime and the System of Criminal Justice: A Moral Rconomy Perspective; Philip Whitehead.- Part II. Identities and Issues.- Chapter 6. Cultural Beliefs, Witchcraft and Crimes in South Africa; Theodore Petrus.- Chapter 7. Challenges of Late Modernity, Religion, Homophobia, and Crime: Police and Criminal Justice Reform in Jamaica and Uganda; Perry Stanislas.- Chapter 8. Child Abuse and theChurch; Jodi Death.- Chapter 9. “Rejected and dejected”: The Impacts and Contexts of Islamophobic Violence; Barbara Perry.- Chapter 10. “If There is a God I Will be Allowed to Enter Heaven as All Other Martyrs” – Anders Behring Breivik and Religiously inspired ‘Righteous Slaughter’; James Treadwell.- Chapter 11. Polygamy, American Style: Empire, Faith, Law and Bad Public Policy; Jacob W. Petterchak.- Chapter 12. Power and Citizenship in the Social Media Networks: British Muslims, Crime Prevention and Social Engagement; Noureddine Miladi.- Chapter 13. Spirituality and the Black Community: Criminality, Victimisation and Wellbeing; Bertha Ochieng.- Chapter 14. Changing Religious Influences: Young People, Crime and Extremism in Nigeria; Perry Stanislas and Iyah Iyah.- Chapter 15. Faith and Identity in Prison; Alison Booker and Helen Dearnley.                                                                   

This unique collection brings together international contributors from a range of disciplines to explore crime and responses to crime through a religious/faith-based lens. At a time when religion is under the media spotlight in terms of religiously-motivated hate crime, terrorism and child abuse this book provides an important platform for academic debate. It examines these and other key issues including: faith as a coping strategy, religion as a motivating factor and the role of religion and morality in shaping criminal justice responses. This collection clearly places religion/faith at the heart of criminological enquiry and illustrates its relevance in addressing wider social issues and would be of benefit to students and academics researching or studying in these areas. It will also be of interest to community and criminal justice practitioners and those with an interest in community engagement and multi-faith work.                                                       

“This book shows a deep insight into the impact of faith whilst also reflecting on social phenomena that affect faith communities. The issues raised are real and living issues affecting these communities. This book is deeply reflective and highly informative… a trailblazer.” (Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Director of “Faith Matters”) “Few texts have explored the relationship between religion, faith and crime in any depth, and fewer still have provided theoretical, historical and empirical analyses to bring to life the nuances of this relationship. This is a timely collection and one which will be welcomed by many criminologists and criminal justice professionals.” (Neil Chakraborti, Director, The Leicester Centre for Hate Studies, UK) “Britain may well be a broadly secular society but the legacy of our religious past pervades many of our criminal laws and the moral assumptions underpinning the operation of criminal justice. Religion, in fact, has not gone away: different forms of faith andreligious belief drive both fearful violence and - less visibly - profound efforts at peacemaking and redemption. Crime and punishment is always something that theologians should always reckon with, and criminologists should not ignore the links between faith and agency. This timely book reopens and illuminates a neglected debate and is all the more welcome for that.” (Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, University of Strathclyde, UK)                                            

"This book shows a deep insight into the impact of faith whilst also reflecting on social phenomena that affect faith communities. The issues raised are real and living issues affecting these communities. This book is deeply reflective and highly informative... a trailblazer." (Fiyaz Mughal OBE, Director of "Faith Matters") "Few texts have explored the relationship between religion, faith and crime in any depth, and fewer still have provided theoretical, historical and empirical analyses to bring to life the nuances of this relationship. This is a timely collection and one which will be welcomed by many criminologists and criminal justice professionals." (Neil Chakraborti, Director, The Leicester Centre for Hate Studies, UK) "Britain may well be a broadly secular society but the legacy of our religious past pervades many of our criminal laws and the moral assumptions underpinning the operation of criminal justice. Religion, in fact, has not gone away: different forms of faith and religious belief drive both fearful violence and - less visibly - profound efforts at peacemaking and redemption. Crime and punishment is always something that theologians should always reckon with, and criminologists should not ignore the links between faith and agency. This timely book reopens and illuminates a neglected debate and is all the more welcome for that." (Mike Nellis, Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Community Justice, University of Strathclyde, UK)