Religion, crime and punishment overview - Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A

This theme, Religion, crime and punishment, applies the beliefs of Christianity and Islam to questions about why people commit crime, how society should punish, and the place of forgiveness. It is assessed in the same way as the rest of Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A (1RA0).

What the theme covers

The theme moves from the causes of crime and the aims of punishment to forgiveness and the death penalty.

• Causes of crime and aims of punishment: why people break the law, religious attitudes to lawbreaking, and retribution, deterrence, reformation and protection.
• Forgiveness and the treatment of criminals: religious teachings on forgiveness, and attitudes to prison, corporal punishment, community service and rehabilitation.
• The death penalty: religious and non-religious attitudes to capital punishment, and the arguments for and against.

How it is assessed

This ethics theme uses the same (a) to (d) pattern as the rest of the course: Outline three (3 marks), Explain two (4 marks), Explain two and refer to a source of wisdom and authority (5 marks), and Evaluate a statement (12 marks plus, on Paper 1, 3 for spelling, punctuation and grammar).

How to study it

For each issue, learn the religious teaching, a source for part (c), and the contrasting views (religious and non-religious, and divergent views within each faith, such as on the death penalty). Note how forgiveness and justice work together, define the aims of punishment precisely, and rehearse the Evaluate structure with arguments on both sides and a justified conclusion.

For the official specification

Pearson publishes the full specification (1RA0), past papers and mark schemes at qualifications.pearson.com. Always revise from the current specification and Edexcel past papers.