"If you love me, keep my commandments": A meta-analysis of the effect of religion on crime

Do religious beliefs and behaviors deter criminal behavior? The existing ev idence surrounding the effect of religion on crime is varied contested, and inconclusive, and currently no persuasive answer exists as to the empirica l relationship between religion and crime. In this article, the authors add ress this controversial issue with a meta-analysis of 60 previous studies b ased on two questions: (I) What is the direction and magnitude of the effec t of religion on crime? (2) Why have previous studies varied in their estim ation of this effect The results of the meta-analysis show that religious b eliefs and behaviors exert a moderate deterrent effect on individuals' crim inal behavior Furthermore, previous studies have systematically varied in t heir estimation of the religion-on-crime effect due to differences in both their conceptual and methodological approaches.