Muslim Religiosity and Juvenile Delinquency: A Systematic Review

Abstract

While discussion of religiosity and delinquency has garnered attention in the past few decades, few studies have focused on how religiosity influences rates of delinquency among Muslim adolescents. In this systematic review, keywords were used to cull pertinent articles from two major databases (Scopus and EBSCOhost). In total, 14 articles were identified based on several inclusion criteria. In general, the studies selected showed that Muslim adolescents have a lower rate of delinquency compared to non-Muslim adolescents. However, when questions related to the measurement of delinquency (such as including violence) and the cultural context (such as including individuals who are first-generation immigrants of a non-Muslim-majority country) are taken into consideration, more complex trends are observed. Furthermore, many identified articles did not capture the essence of Muslim religiosity as conceptualized by some Muslim researchers, which has specific and unique properties that must be considered. This study demonstrates how Muslim religiosity protects against delinquency and has a potential use for intervention with Muslim adolescents.