Here\u2019s some data that at first glance supports the \u201creligion as social prophylactic\u201d argument.\u00a0 When asked to state their religion, 46.5% of the 20,000 or so mostly low-level offenders who cycle through the Grand Rapids county jail each year (which I just visited) answer \u201cnone.\u201d\u00a0 (The most common charge among Grand Rapids inmates is disorderly conduct, which includes a high number of drunk driving offenses.)\u00a0 The next highest category of religious affiliation was Protestant, with 37.7% of the vote.\u00a0 Western Michigan is very church-saturated; the general population would have nowhere near a 46% \u201cnone\u201d answer rate when asked to state its religion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have not seen religion surveys of detainees in other jails or prisons to know whether Grand Rapids is typical.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Grand Rapids detainees also answer “none” most frequently when asked to state their occupation; second most frequently stated occupation is “unemployed.”\u00a0 They are most often single, rather than married or divorced, with at least one child.<\/p>\n
Obviously, there would be a lot of disaggregating necessary here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s some data that at first glance supports the \u201creligion as social prophylactic\u201d argument.\u00a0 When asked to state their religion, 46.5% of the 20,000 or so mostly low-level offenders who cycle through the Grand Rapids county jail each year (which … Continue reading