Do Ahteists Make up significantly more of the prison population?
A fundamentalist Christian I know once asserted that atheists make up a significantly larger percentage of prison inmates then they do of the free public, citing this as evidence that Atheists cause all the evil in the world. I asked him to show me his evidence, where the proof came from, the statistical surveys of numerous prisons in various locations, etc. etc. I was Quite skeptical of course, since most atheists (as far as I know) are scientists, and scientists usually have a much higher income bracket, and typically commit less crimes then your average gas station attendant or High School dropout. I have not seen actual surveys on this, but it seems a logical deduction to me. He presented as proof for his assertion that one local prison in Minnesota or some Midwest state had 1 or 2% more atheists that the population should account for. I could not believe it!?!. This was referenced in a popular Christian (unknown which one) magazine as "evidence". I was shocked at the utter pathetic understanding of statistics as well.
My fundamentalist acquaintance has it exactly wrong. a recent poll showed that Xtians make up the overwhelming majority of the prison population. Catholics were the largest percentage, on a par with their percentage in the population. Jews I believe were somewhat under represented. atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers in general were substantially under represented. I believe they were under 1% whereas they are at least 10% of the population. this poll was printed in one of my free-thought publications…
I found what I was looking for. this is from "Free Mind" the membership newsletter of "The American Humanist Association". March\April 1998. it is from a letter to the editor from Jan Brazill, Colorado springs, co. the pertinent part of the letter follows:
"In the " new criminology ", Max D. Shlapp and Edward E. Smith say that two generations of statisticians found that the ratio of convicts without religious training is about one-tenth of 1 percent. w.t. root, professor of psychology at the university of Pittsburgh, examined 1,916 prisoners and concluded, "indifference to religion, due to thought, strengthens character," . adding that Unitarians, agnostics, atheists, and freethinkers were nearly absent from penitentiaries.
In sing sing, of 1,553 inmates, 855 were Catholics, 518 Protestants, 117 were Jews, and 8 non-religious. During ten years in sing sing, of those executed for murder, 65 per cent were Catholics, 26 per cent Protestants, 6 per cent Hebrew, 2 per cent pagan and less than .0033 per cent non-religious.
The Elmyra, New York, reformatory system overshadowed all others, with nearly 31,000 inmates, of which 15,694 are catholic, 10,698 are Protestant, 4,000 are Jews, 325 refuse to answer, and none report being an unbeliever.
Surveys of Massachusetts found every inmate to be religious.
Dr. Christian, superintendent of the New York state reformatories, checked the records of 22,000 prison inmates and found only four college graduates, while 91 per cent of the people listed in who's who are college graduates. Dr. Christian concluded that "intelligence and knowledge produce right living" and that "crime is the offspring of superstition and ignorance. "
It's in the books. you could look it up.
I believe the surveys were concerned with (primarily) how the prisoners were raised. I expect that they were not regular churchgoers before they were jailed.