Citation

Chui WH, Cheng KK. Int. J. Offender Ther. Comp. Criminol. 2014; 59(10): 1066-1078.

Affiliation

City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0306624X14531035

PMID

24788254

Abstract

While there have been numerous studies on the religious, namely, Christians', attitudes toward punishment, less attention has been devoted to the religious attitudes toward prisoners. This study aims to examine and compare religious affiliation and spirituality with respect to attitudes toward prisoners. Respondents were comprised of a sample of college students in Hong Kong divided into three groups: Buddhists, Christians, and those self-identified as non-religious. Both Christians and Buddhists displayed more positive attitudes toward prisoners with respect to perceived bad character and perception of negative interaction compared with the non-religious. Likewise, Christians and Buddhists exhibited more positive attitudes toward prisoners with respect to empathy and perception that prisoners are normal compared with the non-religious. Spirituality, however, moderated these relationships as spirituality interacted with religious affiliation to produce more negative attitudes toward prisoners. Possible implications are discussed.

Language: en