Social Determinants of the Seriousness of Crime: An Examination of a Muslim Sample

Abstract

It is argued by some scholars that because of the influence of traditional Islamic penal law Muslims are more serious in opposing crime. Islamic societies, however, have been under the influence of modern socio-economic structures, and because of this some modern ideas with respect to crime have developed among them. The aim of the author is, first, to show how serious Iranian students are, as Muslims, in opposing different kinds of crime, and second, to examine the social determinants of crime seriousness perception in an Islamic context. The author uses the data of a social attitudes survey of Iranian university students. The survey was conducted among a sample of 1522 students in 2002. The variables whose effects are examined include some demographic and attitudinal variables, particularly religiosity and its different types.