Introduction

As illustrated in the previous two chapters, gender and ‘race’/ethnic identities have, over the last three decades or so, attracted much research attention, lying at the forefront of criminological enquiry. This chapter will look at faith identities in relation to crime, victimisation and criminal justice, suggesting that religious identities are increasingly featuring in criminological discourse, as well as in criminal justice policy and practice. The significance of these developments must not be understated, as the inclusion of faith identities/communities in research, policy and practice not only heralds new areas of enquiry and new modes of engagement with communities, but, moreover, brings challenges to contemporary theorising and empirical analyses in relation to crime and victimisation in more forceful and radical ways than perhaps those challenges stemming from either ethnic or gender identities.

When engaging in work that places the notions of religiosity and/or spirituality at the centre of analysis, the secular underpinnings of criminology become apparent. Traditionally, experiences of crime and victimisation have been portrayed through the secular lens of ‘race’/ethnicity rather than religious identity, thereby serving to marginalise, ignore or misrepresent experiences in relation to religion and/or spirituality. In this chapter it is argued that a focus upon faith identities can lead to the adoption of innovative research techniques and theoretical frameworks of enquiry. However, this work carries with it the potential to be delegitimised because of the predominance of secularism within contemporary western society, whereby an artificially constructed binary opposition of secular/sacred serves to place work that includes a focus on the sacred into the category of the deviant ‘Other’.

This chapter will also focus upon faith communities in relation to a criminal justice context, whereby faith communities are being viewed as an important resource for tackling crime and incivility, and indeed for helping to undermine terrorism, through working in partnership with various statutory agencies. Faith communities are also being seen as an object of government intervention in themselves in order to reach wider goals in terms of fostering community cohesion and civil renewal. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and more recent attacks in Bali, Madrid and London, the issues of religious identification, religious freedom and citizenship have generated much discussion within social and political arenas, with Muslim communities in particular being scrutinised.