Collaborative Research: RUI: The Frequency and Patterns of Crime Against Religious Congregations

礼拜场所是美国各地社区中最普遍、最显眼的机构之一。然而，这种可见性意味着教堂、犹太教堂、清真寺、寺庙和其他宗教集会经常成为街头犯罪和种族甚至宗教仇恨犯罪的目标。的确，每年都很容易发现成百上千的关于宗教集会遭到破坏、盗窃、纵火或其他犯罪的新闻报道。然而，宗教团体的受害却很少受到社会科学家的关注。我们的研究将有助于检验和扩展犯罪理论及其与社区环境的关系，以及种族冲突和宗教迫害的理论。该项目将收集具有全国代表性的调查数据，包括宗教会众受害的流行程度、模式和预测因素，以及对会众领袖及其犯罪经历的深度访谈数据。我们将比较和对比预测街头犯罪受害的因素与那些预测宗教动机的仇恨犯罪受害的因素。这些数据不仅可以让社会科学家检验有关犯罪、种族冲突和宗教迫害的理论，还可以为执法部门、社区和教会领袖提供基础，以防止和应对礼拜场所遭受的伤害。

Places of worship are among the most prevalent and visible institutions in communities across the United States. This visibility, though, means that churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other religious congregations are often targets for street crime and ethnic- or even religiously-motivated hate crime. Indeed, it is easy to find hundreds of news reports each year about a religious congregation being victimized by vandalism, theft, arson, or some other crime. Yet, the victimization of religious congregations has received little attention by social scientists. Our research will contribute to the testing and extension of theories of crime and its relationship to community contexts, as well as theories of ethnic conflict and religious persecution.This project will gather nationally representative survey data on the prevalence, pattern, and predictors of victimization of religious congregations along with in-depth interview data with congregational leaders and their experiences with crime. We will compare and contrast the factors that predict street crime victimization with those that predict religiously-motivated hate crime victimization. These data will not only allow social scientists to test theories of crime, ethnic conflict, and religious persecution, but they will also provide the foundation for law enforcement, community, and congregational leaders to prevent and respond to the victimization of places of worship.