Magic-religious practices and beliefs in criminal culture: A review of the literature

Abstract

Criminality does not end with the rationality of the crime, it appears accompanied by a set of beliefs, practices and ways of seeing the world that are important to study. Therefore, as an objective, a review of the literature was carried out, about magical-religious practices and beliefs in criminal culture, through a qualitative descriptive investigation, in which different databases were used, such as Scopus, Proquest, Scielo, Dialnet and Redalyc. Books, book chapters, articles and theses were chosen, the product of empirical research on magical-religious practices and beliefs of criminal and criminal groups. It was found that these groups that live in (il)legality have appropriated magical-religious practices and beliefs from different traditions: Catholic, indigenous, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian and African. The magical use of these beliefs is self-protection, attacking enemies, and the power to visualize the future. The moral aspect of religion is absent and only its ritual elements, imagery and iconography are used. It is concluded that magical-religious beliefs are related to criminal action and magic fulfills criminal desires through ritual procedures