In More God, Less Crime renowned criminologist Byron R. Johnson proves that religion can be a powerful antidote to crime. The book describes how faith communities, congregations, and faith-based organizations are essential in forming partnerships necessary to provide the human and spiritual capital to effectively address crime, offender rehabilitation, and the substantial aftercare problems facing former prisoners. There is scattered research literature on religion and crime but until now, there has never been one publication that systematically and rigorously analyzes what we know from this largely overlooked body of research in a lay-friendly format. The data shows that when compared to current strategies, faith-based approaches to crime prevention bring added value in targeting those factors known to cause crime: poverty, lack of education, and unemployment. In an age of limited fiscal resources, Americans can’t afford a criminal justice system that turns its nose up at volunteer efforts that could not only work better than the abysmal status quo, but also save billions of dollars at the same time. This book provides readers with practical insights and recommendations for a faith-based response that could do just that.

Act of Faith: America's longest running criminal conspiracy perpetrated against children By: Stephen Rubino www.actoffaithbook.com About the Book In his debut novel, trial attorney Stephen Rubino takes the reader on an electrifying journey of deceit, intrigue, tragedy, passion and ultimate redemption. At the intersection of the sacred and the profane, Act of Faith dissects the Vatican’s complicity in America’s longest criminal conspiracy perpetrated against children. This multi-generational family saga is richly portrayed through an ensemble cast of unforgettable characters, revealing the secret world of the Vatican’s sheltering of sexual predators to avoid bringing scandal to the faithful. Act of Faith offers an unflinching account of the still emerging sexual abuse scandal plaguing the Catholic Church and its impact on the survivors and their families across America. The story chronicles the lives of siblings Francis and Elizabeth Natale, who suffer unspeakable psychological damage after being sexually abused by their trusted parish priest. As adults, Francis and Elizabeth become estranged, each hiding their secrets in dangerous double lives. He as a gifted pianist and sexually conflicted Catholic priest, she as a reckless but highly successful trial attorney. After resigning her partnership in a major New York City law firm, Elizabeth sets out to uncover the roots of the abuse scandal and to exact her personal revenge. On a serendipitous road trip across the country, Elizabeth confronts her lifelong demons and forms an unlikely alliance with Father Thomas Atkinson, her long lost high school love who has become a Vatican whistleblower. After a tense reunion with Francis, the trio enters the super-charged environment of high stakes litigation, exposing the Church’s centuries old practice of hiding sexual predators in plain sight from the religious faithful and law enforcement. Together, the trio brings to the courthouse steps the first Federal Civil Racketeering lawsuit against the Catholic Church.

This unique collection brings together international contributors from a range of disciplines to explore crime and responses to crime through a religious/faith-based lens. At a time when religion is under the media spotlight in terms of religiously-motivated hate crime, terrorism and child abuse this book provides an important platform for academic debate. It examines these and other key issues including: faith as a coping strategy, religion as a motivating factor and the role of religion and morality in shaping criminal justice responses. This collection clearly places religion/faith at the heart of criminological enquiry and illustrates its relevance in addressing wider social issues and would be of benefit to students and academics researching or studying in these areas. It will also be of interest to community and criminal justice practitioners and those with an interest in community engagement and multi-faith work.

The world you will abandon keep in faith only to those who practice chaos and tyranny. But you, you will remember them, who deceive and mislead. You will become wise and strong, able to distinguish those who live in fear of others and those who live with courage and fortitude. Wisdom shall become your stronghold and you shall discern all things. Light shall shine throughout your days. You will remember faith cannot be placed in the dead on behalf of the living. This book cannot be written with kind words. It will not be poetic. It exposes the desensitization process; deterring its followers into oblivion. It demonstrates the disregards for social and moral rule. It renders shame and guilt, good and evil. It also provides a way out through acceptance of truth, enabling faith. Prevailing false hope. Contained within is an opposition to an attempt to bring repressed thoughts or feelings into consciousness.

New York Times bestselling author Gregg Olsen investigates the sensational story of a minister who seduced four of his female congregants, and hatched a cold-blooded plot to murder his wife. On December 26, 1997, near the affluent community of Bainbridge Island off the coast of Seattle, a house went up in flames. In it was the shy, beloved minister's wife Dawn Hacheney. When the fire was extinguished, investigators found only her charred remains. Her husband Nick was visibly devastated by the loss. What investigators failed to note, however, was that Dawn's lungs didn't contain smoke. Was she dead before the fire began? So begins this true crime story that's unlike any other. It investigates Nick Hacheney, a philandering minister who had been carrying on with several women in the months before and just after his wife's death. He would be convicted for the murder five years to the day after the crime. From one of the foremost names in true crime, Twisted Faith is a gripping and truly unforgettable story of a man whose charisma and desire rocked an entire community.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, this extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities. • Now an acclaimed FX limited series streaming on HULU. “Fantastic.... Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song.” —San Francisco Chronicle Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.

The world you will abandon keeps in faith only to those who practice chaos and tyranny. But you, you will remember them who deceive and mislead. You will become wise and strong, able to distinguish those who live in fear of others and those who live with courage and fortitude. Wisdom shall become your stronghold, and you shall discern all things. Light shall shine throughout your days. You will remember faith cannot be placed in the dead on behalf of the living. This book cannot be written with kind words. It will not be poetic. It exposes the desensitization process, deterring its followers into oblivion. It demonstrates the disregard for social and moral rule. It renders shame and guilt, good and evil. It also provides a way out through acceptance of truth, enabling faith. False hope prevails; contained within is an opposition to an attempt to bring repressed thoughts or feelings into consciousness.