Islamic Law & Crime Rate

Students of comparative criminology have been reminded over and over again of the low level of criminology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (p.1)

This "reminder" has come in the form of several studies concluding support not only for low crime rates in Saudi Arabia in general but also for the notion that Saudi crime rates are the lowest in comparison with several other Arab states (e.g. Adler, 1983; Souryal, 1987; El-Sendiony, 1981; Mourad, 1980). This supportive evidence has commonly been said to be the result of the fact that, unlike other Arab countries, Saudi Arabia has adopted sacred scripture (the Quran) as its constitution and has implemented traditional law practices (the Shariah) as its penal code.

However, Ali (1985) has challenged the findings of much of the research on Saudi crime and the Shariah, stating that most of this work suffers from methodological contaminants. These contaminants are said to include: (1) comparison of crime rates in two countries at two different periods of time; (2) comparison of offense categories defined differently for different countries; (3) presentation of data indicating low and/or a declining rate of crime in Saudi Arabia with no comparison to other nations; (4) different systems of recording criminal statistics in the comparison countries; and (5) the availability of alternative explanati

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verned by positive law) is based primarily on offender rehabilitation and the administration of justice and where the process is rather slow and uncertain. Yet because there are major methodological obstacles in comparing crime rates in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. it is difficult to argue in any conclusive manner that the lower crime volume in Saudi Arabia can primarily be attributed to Islamic law. Adler (1983) tries to explain the reason why these crime rates are so different and finds a common pattern of "informal social controls" in Islamic societies (pp. 157-158). Adler's analysis is part of a major project conducted by the United Nations Secretariat in 1977 to measure the dimensions of criminality on a world-wide basis. official figures from 64 countries were collected and compared, and countries were then ranked in order of levels of overall "criminality." The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was ranked with other countries "not obsessed with crime," including Bulgaria, Peru, Nepal, and a few others. Ali suggests that the low crime rate in Saudi Arabia may be influenced by a profound internalization of Islamic religious values among the Saudi people through an integral process of socialization that is accompanied by a firm and
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Approximate Word count = 2585
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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