Summarize and Discuss one Chapter of Yolande Forde’s Study on Criminal Behavior in the Cayman Islands

Summarize and discuss one chapter of Yolande Forde’s study on criminal behavior in the Cayman Islands.

University College of the Cayman Islands

Victoria Ramos

Sociology 102-2

Dr. L. Smith

1st March 2016

Religion and Crime

Yolande Forde, a consultant criminologist, was requested to come to Grand Cayman and analyze the inmates of Eagle House and Northward prison. Forde was needed to determine the social factors which prompted inmates toward criminal activity. According to the Cayman Islands Government, the normal approaches to crime were not as effective as they desired (Forde, 2006). Her report on crime has shown deep study on the inmates and their personal experiences with social activities throughout their lives.  

According to Forde’s report, she mentions various social factors that impact individuals’ behavior. The social interactions involved in all activities bring people together, which prevents them from being isolated from others. The factors mentioned in her report were community and organizational involvement, religious participation, education and school experiences, and family background. Religion stood out to me because Cayman is greatly known for being a religious community with some laws abided due to the Bible. Yolande Forde even mentioned an important fact about our Sundays being holy. This law is still enacted in Cayman today, on Sundays all the nightclubs are closed, all liquor stores are closed and restricted to sell alcohol and our cinema does not show R-rated movies.

Religion is an important social element for all individuals when pertaining to how we act. The religious values, morals and principles are the guidelines for individuals, bringing social control and stability (Macionis, 2013). When an individual has faith in their religion, it gives them hope; a belief system develops which reminds the person how important life is (Forde, 2006). In Cayman, many of us have attended church, Sunday school and youth groups. All the social interactions involved within these activities are positive influences. Studies have shown that the youth involved in church services get into less trouble than those who don’t (Forde, 2006).

Church attendance is our culture’s norm and expectations for the people of Cayman. The inmates studied by Yolande Forde had shown 93% attended church as children. However, this large rate tends to decrease as children get older and reach teen years. As we reach a certain age, there is a powerful agent of socialization, our peer group, who influences our behavior and morals (Forde, 2006).  About twenty-one out of thirty men attended church during the two-year period before incarceration. Many people show up to church on Sundays to make themselves look good, it does not mean that they will abide by the church after they leave. According to a legal official, criminals use church for a good cover up, holding their Bible, putting on a show.  As soon as a few church members witness the attendances, word will spread fast around Cayman, where the defendants will be let off lightly (Forde, 2006).

Sociologically, religion plays a powerful role in an individual’s life. Conflict theorist Karl Marx and functionalist Emile Durkheim viewed religion differently. According to Marx, religion was a tool of social control used to maintain the status quo in society. There will always be people better and higher than others (Macionis, 2013).  He believed religion offered rewards after death, deceiving people of the after-life along with promising awards. Durkheim however, viewed religion as a social cohesion which brought forth social control and stability. He believed religion was an expression of society, the more complex a society, the more complex the religious system (CliffsNotes.com). Both agreed that religion is an important aspect of society, which relates to Forde’s report on religious participation.