Prevention of crime through religious creativity

Abstract

The article is devoted to criminological analysis of current problems of religious creativity in the context of crime prevention. Such varieties of religious creativity as internal and external are defined. It is noted that religious activity in general and religious creativity in particular directly influences the semantic, meaningful and emotional processes of repentance, redemption, internal reconciliation, reassurance, reorientation from criminal to charitable activity, etc. It is argued that religiously motivated creative activities may include non-religious aspects of social protest, inventive, artistic and sporting nature. Examples of relevant creativity in crime prevention, economic crime and war crimes are given. The analysis of state programs for spiritual revival in places of imprisonment and patronage by religious organizations of persons released from places of imprisonment is made. The results of the content analysis of the content of religious sermons on the Internet, in particular, that more than 40 % of their content are prophylactic load against crime, because they are devoted to self-reflection, self-identification of the person, correction of mistakes, forgiveness of oneself, neighbor, enemies, awareness of the love of God against this background of self-centered, selfish and aggressive motives for potential criminological behavior. It is noted separately that since the beginning of events in the East of Ukraine up to 75 % of volunteers who assisted the ATO forces in the 2014 and 2015 years and help today by preventing war crime are representatives of different religious denominations, although they mostly do not advertise their religious motivation and affiliation with time of such activity.