Irreligious prison population

A pie chart delineating the percentage of irreligious in prison (shown in light blue) in the United Kingdom; Click the graphic above to enlarge the pie chart and text. Data courtesy of The National Archives (UK)

The irreligious prison population, according to government data of many sovereign states, as well as that of independent surveys, makes up a large percentage of the overall prisoner demographic. In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, according to the 2011 Census, the irreligious make up only "around a quarter of the population." However, they are over-represented in the prison population, forming over 34% of all criminals.

These statistics confirm recent scientific research, which has concluded that "the more involved people are with religious life, the less likely they are to fall into criminal behavior."

Religion and crime reduction

See: Religion and crime reduction

Atheists and the U.S. prison population: Commentary by Skepchick

See also: Atheists in U.S. prisons argument and atheist morality and Western atheism and race and Demographics of atheism

The serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer engaged in cannibalism. He was an atheist while he committed these acts. See also: Atheism and cannibalism

The atheist Heina Dadabhoy published at the atheist website Skepchick an article entitled Fellow Atheists: Quit Bragging About Our Prison Underrepresentation which declared concerning the United States prison population:

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Atheism is a movement comprised mostly of middle-to-upper-class white people. A middle-to-upper-class white person is far less likely to be incarcerated than a poor person and/or a person of color. The only way atheists as a whole might be less likely to be incarcerated than theists would be if we were a female-majority community. Atheism is hardly the cause of white middle-to-upper-class people’s underrepresentation in the prison population, injustice in the criminal justice system is... Intersectional issues aside, being arrested and convicted means being caught breaking the law. Would most of us atheists consider, say, possession of small amounts of marijuana to be a crime worthy of incarceration, let alone an immoral act? Yet prisons teem with non-violent drug offenders. As for being caught, I will return to the example of marijuana. How many of us class and race privileged* atheists would be imprisoned for drug possession had it not been for residence in low-density housing in areas rarely patrolled by the police? Living in a detached home reduces the likelihood of a neighbor or passer-by reporting drug use to the authorities but is hardly an indicator of superior moral character. Given that we’re a movement of people not exactly known for dealing so well, if at all, with issues of race or class.

”

For more information, please see: Atheists in U.S. prisons argument and atheist morality

FiveThirtyEight on atheists in prison statistics

See also: FiveThirtyEight on atheists in prison statistics

FiveThirtyEight is a prominent website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics and other matters.

Mona Chalabi wrote at FiveThirtyEight made some similar argument to Heina Dadabhoy, but she also added a few additional arguments:

“

So what explains these discrepancies between religious affiliation inside prisons and outside them? I’ll set out a couple of possible theories. 1. Maybe it’s income. We know that Muslims and Americans who identify with historically black Protestant churches tend to have lower incomes than the national average. And we know that 44 percent of federal prisoners earned less than $1,500 in the month prior to their arrest (I’m afraid the last time prisoners’ income was surveyed was in 2004, though, and those are 2004 dollars). 2. Maybe it’s race. We know that even though African-Americans represented only 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2013, they represented 36 percent of the prison population. And we know that Muslims are almost twice as likely to be African-American as the U.S. population as a whole. (I think race is also probably relevant when we’re thinking about the over-representation of Rastafarians and Santerians in prison too.) 3. Maybe it’s immigration. We know that most American Muslims immigrated to the U.S. sometime after 1992. And we know that 12 percent of the federal prison population is described as “non-citizens” (a term that means they’re foreign-born and, according to Ed Ross, a spokesman at the Bureau of Prisons, entered the country illegally). 4. Maybe it’s conversion. Ross explained that prisons collect information on religious affiliation from inmates as part of the intake screening process. That information gets stored as part of their case management. But, he added, “anywhere along the way, inmates can have their information changed to reflect a change in their religious status. Anyone can find god or lose god while in prison.”

”

Irreligion, illegitimate births and criminality

See: Atheism, illegitimate births and criminality

See also

• Atheism and Mass Murder
• Atheism and morality
• Atheism and morality studies
• Irreligion and superstition
• Atheist population

External links

• Belief in Hell Lowers Crime Rate, According to International Study (TLD News)
• Lies, damned lies and atheists in prison, Christian Thinker
• Jeffrey Dahmer Interview - MSNBC Footage (Video)