As you know im fairly new to the Forum (and any sort of Atheist community as such) so im sure this has been discussed before...so shoot me!

While browsing I've come across the claim on a few different sites and blogs that the Atheist prison population is dramatically lower in relation to its wider society population.

Various sources has the population of the U.K people who believe in no god at around the 20% - 30% mark.

A bbc poll even puts non-believers at 33% of the population of the u.k. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/wt...518375.stm)

Another bbc poll puts Athesits at 15% and Agnostics at 4% (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pr...wtogod.pdf)

(some sites even suggest as high as 44% but to me, while its an encouraging number it seems very generous.)

Now a home office report says

"The largest group of prisoners from religions other than Christianity was Muslim, forming about 7% of the total. Other religious groups, such as Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs, each formed less than 1% of the population. Inmates with No religion formed an important minority at around 30% of the total population. Only 1% of these were Agnostics and Atheists. The remainder had no stated religious affiliation."

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hosb1501.pdf

I found a few sites who doubt the claim that Atheists are under represented in prison populations but they seem to group those who are of "no religion" together with the Atheists, which tell me if im wrong, is silly as I know plenty of people who are of "no religion" yet still believe in a spirit, god, higher power or so on.

But in saying that a few Atheist and freethinking focused pages and forums seem also to call the data into question. Also citing generally the prison population is of a lower IQ, making them more likely to attribute themselves to a religion and also the fact that a lot of people likely turn to religion whilst in prison as a last refuge. Which are both valid points.

However, to me the stats seem to indicate that even allowing for rather generous discrepancies in the numbers Atheists in prison are under represented as a percentage when compared to that of the wider population. Puts a hole in the popular anti Atheist argument of us not having good morals or knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Also worth noting the Muslim population in the U.K in 2001 was 2.7% while the prison population of Muslims in 2000 was 7%.

Like I say, this has all probably been bought up before, but I would love anyone else's input on the subject as among a variety of sites what the data implies and even the data itself seems to be disputed.

Very well written and thought out post!

Personally I'm always very wary of statistics, however this is not the first time I’ve seen the correlation drawn between atheism and prison population.

It seems that this is the case the world over (I’ve seen similar reports from a number of EU countries and the US).
So the question this raises to me is why is this the case? Why does it seem that a lower percentage of atheists wind up in jail?

Most curious.

I have heard about these stats before, but in regards to debate morals with theists, I don't like to use the argument. Stats can be dicy, people can convert to god just to look good before parole boards, and even Atheists can be more successeful criminals than theists(wont get caught easily).

What I wonder though, is how good an outspoken atheist would do if he claimed before a parole board his atheism, and comparing it to a theist...

(September 14, 2010 at 10:25 am)LastPoet Wrote: I have heard about these stats before, but in regards to debate morals with theists, I don't like to use the argument. Stats can be dicy, people can convert to god just to look good before parole boards, and even Atheists can be more successeful criminals than theists(wont get caught easily).

What I wonder though, is how good an outspoken atheist would do if he claimed before a parole board his atheism, and comparing it to a theist...

I agree. Stats can be dicy. They can be manipulated. But when even the most conservative estimate I can find put the UK population of Atheists at 15% and separate government stats put the Atheist and Agnostic prison population combined at 1%, it's hard to not see the implication.

Good question about an out spoken atheist in front of a parole board, another reason perhaps to hide Atheism while in prison. Although these statistics are based on the U.K. prison population, where if im honest, I don't believe as much weight would be put on someone's religious stand point as it would in perhaps some countries, but I guess thats hard to measure as it's a easily hidden prejudice.

I do see the implication, and it kinda makes me proud. I guess it naturally follows from being an atheist, an atheist needs to be more rational to deal with the insanity of theist claims, rational people are less likely to commit crimes, therefore there are less atheists in prisons. This is not very far fetched really

One a side note, evolution does provides a great argument for our morality, and that is the argument I like to use

I concluded the same thing over a year ago: http://atheistblogger.com/2009/03/13/ath...the-facts/

As far as I can tell, all the claims are based on one source, which is an email that is linked in a website (so...not that reliable).

A couple of problems with distinguishing between those who put 'no religion' and those who put 'atheist' is that only fairly educated people would identify themselves as atheist. A lot of less educated people wouldn't know what one is. Or some atheists would say 'no religion'. So, it's unreliable. Besides, the theist argument is that lack of religion, rather than atheism per se, leads to immoral behaviour.

(September 14, 2010 at 12:19 pm)The Omnissiunt One Wrote: the theist argument is that lack of religion, rather than atheism per se, leads to immoral behaviour.

Doesn't it tend to lean more towards the argument that lack of a higher power to answer to is what leads to immoral behaviour? Plenty of people don't follow a religion so would be defined as "no religion", yet still belive theres a god or spirit and "something else" after life.

Most of the atheists I have come across are very ehtical, moral individuals. They are very strict about upholding this framework, which is obviously a good thing. So while it doesn't surprise me if there are less atheists in prison, I too doubt this studdy. For one, by ratio wouldn't less atheists be in prison? Less atheists exist. So proportionally it is pretty accurate to assume that, given a smaller number of atheists throughout the world, there will be a smaller number of atheists in prison as compared to religious folk.

I don't see why it would be difficult to gauge the religious beliefs of the prison populations to a very high degree of accuracy... Surprising that it hasn't been done by any reputable source.