Paragraph Structure Exercise #2
English 1A
Dr. Eigenauer
Use the following data to construct a paragraph about
religion’s effect on prisoners.
Rehabilitation Statistics
Study on Effectiveness of Prison Ministries
By George Cornell, AP Religion Writer
(Edited from The Wilson Daily Times, December 1, 1990)
(http://www.prisonministry.org/stats.htm)
- Prisoners
who come under religious influence while they’re behind the walls do
better once they’re back on the outside and in society than those who lack
religious influence, researchers say.
- The
findings of the first-of-its-kind study on the rehabilitative effect of
religion on prisoners could have wide implications for the prison system,
although more study is needed, the researchers say.
- “The
results are phenomenal,” said John Gartner of Baltimore, a clinical
psychologist who headed the five-member research team. “There haven’t been
any findings of effectiveness that were this strong.”
- It was
found that prisoners who received religious instruction while in prison
had a lower rate of recidivism - return to crime - after being freed than
did those who had no such instruction.
- Results
show that religion “may be a powerful, and until now neglected, method of
rehabilitation,” the report says, adding that the previous scant clues
about it make the results very encouraging...
- “Researchers
usually ignore religion,” Gartner said in an interview. “They look at all
aspects of persons, but religion is a gap. It’s a blind spot in the social
sciences, not even consistent with the spirit of science.”
- Considering
the extent of prison ministries, the report said, “it
is ironic that religious factors have been largely ignored” in studies on
factors that might affect a prisoner’s chances for successful
rehabilitation.
- While
results of the new study were positive, Gartner stressed that his team’s
report adds: “It is important to remember that research conclusions are
not determined by one particular study. This is especially so when a new
area of research is opening up...”
- The
group’s study involved 190 prisoners who between 1975 and 1979 had taken
part in Christian discipleship training, and a similar number who had not,
matched by age, race, gender and other factors. Both groups had been
released from prison eight to 14 years prior to the study.
- It
found that the religion-trained ones had an 11 percentage point lower
recidivism rate than the control group. Forty percent of the
religion-schooled group committed new offenses, while 51 percent of the
others did so.
- The
religiously trained group also had a longer crime-free period following
release, and when they did commit new crimes, the
crimes were less severe compared to past offenses. The control group had
increased crime-severity.
- The
recidivism rate for women who took religious training was even lower, only
19 percent, compared to 47 percent among the control group of women. Among
men only, the differential was only seven points...
- The
study is the first part of a three-year project, a second phase of which
is now going on among prisoners in New
York state, including
expanded, detailed scrutiny of the effect of religion on recidivism.
- Findings
of the first study demonstrate that the “potentially beneficial
relationship between religious involvement and criminal rehabilitation is
an under-researched relationship” in need of further study, the report
says...
- The
few other studies that touched on religion noted only denominational
variables, thus leaving the field unexplored.
- “No
one before had ever looked at the effect of religion on recidivism,”
Gartner said. “I find that quite amazing.”