ABSTRACT
Lawyers, philosophers, and others unschooled in the social scientific method are fond of saying such things as “You can't prove a negative.” And it is sometimes hard to make sense of a zero relation or a non-finding. We often seem to end up saying, in effect, that, well, the treatment worked for some but backfired for others. “Hellfire and Delinquency” proves that it doesn't always have to be that way. This paper explains in a thorough and convincing way why religiosity has no effect on delinquency. It does so by finding the weak link in each of the several causal chains through which religious belief and practice are supposed to have their effects. More than thirty years after its original publication, this landmark study remains the starting point for research on the subject. Rodney Stark, it should be noted, has published several pieces on this topic, concluding that due to peculiarities of the population of the San Francisco bay area, he and Hirschi got it wrong. Hirschi has remained silent on the subject, even in the face of arguments that social control theory predicts that religiosity should reduce delinquency. (Hirschi and Stark remain friends.)—JHL/TH
