Phenomenological criminology and the Catholic correctional chaplaincy

The objectives of this paper were: (1) to develop a general theory of criminality that can be useful for any criminal justice worker to gain an accurate and essential understanding of criminal behavior (2) to develop a Catholic correctional chaplaincy program based on this new understanding of criminal behavior. The methodology was : (1) to approach criminality from a phenomenological perspective which observes criminal behavior without any preconceived ideas and uses insights from philosophy, theology, and the behavioral sciences; (2) to use Adrian van Kaam's phenomenological analysis of addiction as an explanation for all unauthentic living and apply it to criminality as one specific form; and (3) to apply the insights gained from this general theory of criminality for the study of the Catholic correctional chaplaincy.