EF_Simone
Jun 5, 2009
Research Papers / Research paper on Mormons! [20]
That's what's nice about forums -- so much can be resolved by dialogue. Islam in prison has often been responsible for profound transformations of irresponsible young men into thoughtful adults. As I mentioned above, The Autobiography of Malcolm X details his transformation from a careless hoodlum, then known as Detroit Red, into an introspective and politically aware man. He continued that process after prison, eventually breaking from the Nation of Islam (also known as the Black Moslems) after his own sojourn to Mecca and around Africa led him to embrace a more multi-racial vision of social justice.
And so it can go either way. Regardless of the religion in question, conversion in prison can lead to genuine self-reflective change but can also lead to extremism. For example, there is an explicitly racist version of Christianity, known as the Christian Identity movement, that is popular among some white inmates.
I would question the assumption that everyone in prison is there because he or she has done wrong. As the Innocence Project has demonstrated via DNA, many people have been unjustly convicted of even the most extreme crimes (where one might think that especial care would be taken to convict the correct person, since failing to do so leaves the real criminal free to commit further mayhem). Given the demonstrated instability of eye-witness testimony, one has to assume that the rate of false convictions for minor crimes is at least as high. In cases of unjust conviction, religion serves not to turn a criminal's life around but, rather, to help the unjustly imprisoned survive and make sense of such a traumatic experience.
That's what's nice about forums -- so much can be resolved by dialogue. Islam in prison has often been responsible for profound transformations of irresponsible young men into thoughtful adults. As I mentioned above, The Autobiography of Malcolm X details his transformation from a careless hoodlum, then known as Detroit Red, into an introspective and politically aware man. He continued that process after prison, eventually breaking from the Nation of Islam (also known as the Black Moslems) after his own sojourn to Mecca and around Africa led him to embrace a more multi-racial vision of social justice.
And so it can go either way. Regardless of the religion in question, conversion in prison can lead to genuine self-reflective change but can also lead to extremism. For example, there is an explicitly racist version of Christianity, known as the Christian Identity movement, that is popular among some white inmates.
I would question the assumption that everyone in prison is there because he or she has done wrong. As the Innocence Project has demonstrated via DNA, many people have been unjustly convicted of even the most extreme crimes (where one might think that especial care would be taken to convict the correct person, since failing to do so leaves the real criminal free to commit further mayhem). Given the demonstrated instability of eye-witness testimony, one has to assume that the rate of false convictions for minor crimes is at least as high. In cases of unjust conviction, religion serves not to turn a criminal's life around but, rather, to help the unjustly imprisoned survive and make sense of such a traumatic experience.