Do You Agree with Ross That Religion Is More Effective Social Control Mechanism That Enacted Laws of Society? If You Do, in What Ways Can This Knowledge Inform Crime Prevention Practices in Ghana?

In the discussion of this work, I have divided it into three main segment .The first parts would consider the introduction which would talk about the concept of religion and that of social control. In the same section I would also consider the position of Ross as stating that religion is a more social control mechanism that enacted laws of society. The second and third part would look at how these religious elements would or can inform crime prevention and last the conclusion respectively. By definition religion has been defined by many scholars in various ways according to their perspectives but all seems to be pointing at one being which the belief in the supernatural. For the purpose of this work, I would go for the definition according to J. B Pratt (1920; p.2).According to J B Pratt, religion is “the serious and social attitude of individuals and communities towards the power or powers which they conceive of as having ultimate control over their interest, and destinies”. This definition was captured by Max Assimeng In his book “Religion and Social Change in Ghana: introduction to the study of religion”. Based on this and many of the definition on religion, I agree with Ross that religion is a more effective social control mechanism that enacted laws for society. What is social control one may ask?Social control in its broader sense is the system of maintaining law and order in society and ensuring that members of society conform to the accepted ways of behavior. (Nukunya, 1992:81). This definition of religion and social control takes us to the basic argument of Ross for postulating that religion is a more effective social control mechanism that enacted laws for society is found in the macro theory of social control as suggested by Abotchie (2012).In this theory Ross argued that instead of thinking that social control mechanism could be found in some conventional laws constructed by some individuals or groups, one should think of it as embedded in