Grasmick and colleagues contend that religious fundamentalism and dispositional attributional styles provide a context for understanding attitudes toward punitiveness among the general public. The present study examined the relationships among religion, attributional style, and the orientations of punitiveness and diversion in a sample of juvenile justice personnel. The findings failed to provide support for a positive relationship among religion, dispositional attribution, and a punitive orientation. A strict interpretation of the Bible and societal attribution was predictive of attitudes toward punitiveness and diversion. However, these effects of religion and societal attribution varied in their directions and association with specific correctional responses. The results have implications for the clarification of sociocultural factors underlying juvenile justice decision making.
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