Crimes occurring at places of worship

Abstract

Although the subject has received very little systematic research, media reports of crimes occurring on the property of places of worship appear regularly. While the national media often focus on violent incidents involving religious bias, local media often report on the more common issues that many congregations face, such as vandalism and theft. This article presents analyses of newspaper reports of crimes taking place on religious congregations’ property in 2012. The data indicate that crimes occurring on the property of religious congregations are not an uncommon event. Analyses suggest that congregations of religious minorities do not appear to be more likely to have an incident occur on their property, but the crimes that do occur on their property appear to be more bias-motivated. Future research would benefit from a nationally representative survey of places of worship that included questions measuring experiences with crime.