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和最明显的机构之一。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。事实上，每年很容易找到数百篇关于一个宗教团体被破坏、盗窃、纵火或其他犯罪行为所伤害的新闻报道。然而，社会科学家很少关注宗教团体的受害情况。我们的研究将有助于测试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。该项目将收集有关宗教团体受害的流行率，模式和预测因素的全国代表性调查数据，沿着与教会领袖的深入访谈数据及其犯罪经历。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。这些数据不仅使社会科学家能够检验犯罪、种族冲突和宗教迫害的理论，而且还将为执法、社区和教会领袖提供基础，以防止和应对礼拜场所的受害行为。

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.