Catholic Christianity: Crime and Punishment | Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies B (1RB0)

Catholic Christianity: Crime and Punishment

95 questions
8 subtopics
Catholic Christianity, one religion of seven
Paper 2

Catholic Christianity: Crime and Punishment is examined in Paper 2, Area of Study 2: Religion, Peace and Conflict, if Catholic Christianity is the religion studied for that area.

A student who studies Catholic Christianity may not study Christianity in their other area. It covers Catholic attitudes towards justice, Catholic attitudes towards crime and the work of Prison Fellowship, Catholic teachings about good, evil and suffering, Catholic attitudes towards punishment, Catholic attitudes towards the aims of punishment, Catholic teachings about forgiveness and mercy, Catholic teachings about the treatment of criminals and torture and Catholic attitudes towards the death penalty.

Sample questions from Catholic Christianity: Crime and Punishment

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

Catholic attitudes towards justice

What does Micah 3 warn will happen because of injustice?

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Micah warns that Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins because of its leaders' corruption. God will not answer the prayers of those who do evil.
Catholic attitudes towards crime and the work of Prison Fellowship

How does Jesus treat the woman in John 8:10–11?

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Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her. Jesus tells her to go and sin no more.
Catholic teachings about good, evil and suffering

Why does God allow people to commit evil actions, according to Catholic teaching?

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God gives humans free will so that they can freely choose to love. Genuine freedom means people can also choose evil.
Catholic attitudes towards punishment

What is the setting of the parable in Luke 12:35–48?

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Jesus tells his disciples to be like servants waiting, dressed and ready, for their master's return from a wedding. The master rewards the servants he finds awake.
Catholic attitudes towards the aims of punishment

What is deterrence?

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Deterrence is punishment that aims to put off the offender and others from committing crime. Deterrence works through fear of the consequences.
Catholic teachings about forgiveness and mercy

How are offenders forgiven by the community?

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The community forgives offenders when it accepts them back after they have served their punishment. Parishes and charities help former prisoners find homes, work and friendship.
Catholic teachings about the treatment of criminals and torture

Why do Catholics believe criminals have human rights?

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Human rights come from human dignity, which no crime can remove. Criminals keep rights such as freedom from torture and a fair hearing.
Catholic attitudes towards the death penalty

What did the Catholic Church teach about the death penalty before 2018?

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The Church accepted the death penalty in principle when it was the only way to protect society. John Paul II said in 1995 that such cases were very rare, if not practically non-existent.

The 8 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
Catholic attitudes towards justice	The virtue of justice in the Catechism, Micah 3 on corrupt rulers and the prophet's own role, Micah 6:8, justice for victims of crime and how Catholics support them, and Humanist views.	12
Catholic attitudes towards crime and the work of Prison Fellowship	Crime and sin, the causes of crime, the woman caught in adultery in John 8 and what it teaches, society's duty to tackle causes, Prison Fellowship's work and motives, and local crime prevention.	12
Catholic teachings about good, evil and suffering	What makes an action good or evil, moral and natural evil, free will, Humanist explanations of suffering, whether religion causes it, suffering as test or punishment, and the Sheep and the Goats.	12
Catholic attitudes towards punishment	The state's right to punish in Catechism 2266, the watchful and unfaithful servants of Luke 12, much required of those entrusted with much, punishment as justice, and how it should help the offender.	10
Catholic attitudes towards the aims of punishment	Protection, retribution, deterrence and reformation with the Catholic view of each, why reformation comes first, and Galatians 6 on restoring an offender, bearing burdens, reaping what you sow and doing good.	12
Catholic teachings about forgiveness and mercy	Peter's question about how often to forgive, forgiveness from the cross, forgiveness alongside punishment, community forgiveness of offenders, mercy to criminals, Matthew 5:21 to 26 on anger and reconciliation, and John Paul II's example.	12
Catholic teachings about the treatment of criminals and torture	Proverbs 31:8 to 9 on speaking for others, human rights and fair trial, trial by jury, the ticking bomb argument, situation ethics and utilitarian cases for torture, and the international ban.	12
Catholic attitudes towards the death penalty	The purposes claimed for capital punishment, Pope Francis's 2018 change to the Catechism and the teaching before it, Genesis 9:6 read two ways, Exodus 21, Matthew 5:38 to 48, and situation ethics.	13

Catholic Christianity: Crime and Punishment is 95 of the 5,266 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.