‘I Get More in Contact with My Soul’: Gang Disengagement, Desistance and the Role of Spirituality
| Published date | 01 April 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225419889195 |
| Author | Ross Deuchar |
| Date | 01 April 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
889195YJJ0010.1177/1473225419889195Youth JusticeDeuchar
research-article2019
Special Issue Article
Youth Justice
2020, Vol. 20(1-2) 113 –127
‘I Get More in Contact with My
© The Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225419889195
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Desistance and the Role of
Spirituality
Ross Deuchar
Abstract
This article explores the links between gangs, masculinity, religion, spirituality and desistance from an
international perspective. It presents insights from life history interviews conducted with a small sample of
17 male reforming gang members in Denmark who had become immersed in a holistic spiritual intervention
programme that foregrounded meditation, yoga and dynamic breathing techniques. Engagement with the
programme enabled the men to begin to perform broader versions of masculinity, experience improved
mental health and well-being and develop a greater commitment to criminal desistance. Links with religious
and spiritual engagement are discussed, and policy implications for the UK gang context included.
Keywords
desistance, gangs, masculinity, religion, spirituality
Introduction
British criminologists have often struggled with and contested the concept of the gang,
focusing instead on youth formations and subcultures. However, building on earlier find-
ings (Pitts, 2008), recent research has indicated that not only is the existence of street
gangs a reality in many UK cities, but also that gang life is evolving in some contexts
(Densley, 2014; Deuchar, 2018; McLean, 2018). Densley (2014) highlights that recrea-
tion, crime, enterprise and governance represent ‘actualization stages through which
gangs progress’ in London, and alludes to similar evolution processes emerging in cities
like Manchester (p. 22). Furthermore, the work of McLean (2018) in Glasgow suggests
that, while purely recreational-style violence and the traditional ‘cafeteria style’ offending
associated with street gangs has somewhat diminished in the city, there has been an
Corresponding author:
Ross Deuchar, Division of Social Sciences, School of Education & Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland,
Paisley PA1 2BE, UK.
Email: ross.deuchar@uws.ac.uk
114
Youth Justice 20(1-2)
emergence of ‘speciality’ gangs that involve young men concentrating on drug sales and
other forms of organised criminal activity (Deuchar, 2018).
In considering how best to support the gang disengagement and desistance process,
some attention has recently been given to the role of masculine identity (re)construction
as well as the potential inherent role of spirituality and religion in enabling this (Brenneman,
2012; Flores, 2014; Deuchar, 2018). Although interest in this is only now beginning to
emerge within the context of UK gang intervention, in Scandinavian countries holistic
forms of ascetic-spiritual interventions have been commonplace for some time (Deuchar,
2018).
The main focus of this article is to explore and examine the relationship between mas-
culinity, gang disengagement, desistance and spirituality through presenting empirical
data arising from a small-scale qualitative study conducted in Denmark. The study
explored the particular experiences and perspectives of a small sample of 17 male Danish
gang members who had become immersed in a holistic spiritual intervention programme
that foregrounded the use of specific types of meditation, yoga and dynamic breathing
techniques. Given that the particular techniques used are largely untried and untested in a
UK context, the article concludes by presenting some potential policy implications for
supporting gang-related criminal desistance and preventing reoffending among men there.
Prior to outlining and presenting the empirical study, insights from the extent literature
on masculinity, on religion and spirituality and the potential links with criminal desistance
and gang disengagement are first presented.
Literature Review
Masculinity, gangs and desistance
It has been argued that crime (and particularly violent crime) can become a resource for
some men to enact hegemonic forms of masculinity at certain stages of the life course and
for particular reasons (Messerschmidt, 2005). Hegemonic masculinity has been defined as
the culturally idealised form of masculinity in a given historical and social setting. In
contemporary western working-class urban communities, cherished hegemonic mascu-
line characteristics typically include physical strength, competitiveness, rugged individu-
alism, assertiveness and overt heterosexual behaviour combined with the rejection of
femininity and weakness (Connell, 2005; Keddie, 2003). In the context of the traditionally
male-dominated world of gang membership, these characteristics are very often endorsed
and promoted among young men against the backdrop of socially and economically dis-
advantaged contexts across the United Kingdom and the wider world (Densley, 2013;
Deuchar, 2018).
Given the increasing recognition that masculinity identity construction plays an influ-
ential role in gang activity and offending behaviour among men, in recent years gang
scholars have come to examine attempts to re-define and reform masculinity among gang
members (Brenneman, 2012; Flores, 2014). In a wider sense, criminologists have con-
vincingly argued that criminal desistance is not just stimulated through transformations in
offenders’ circumstances or relationships, but also involves (inter-) subjective processes
Deuchar
115
such as disasters’ reconstructions of personal identities (Maruna, 2001). It has been sug-
gested by some that support from certain types of religious and spiritual intervention
programmes may strengthen the natural processes that may push and pull male offenders
away from gangs and generate the type of agentic behaviour that enables their gang-
related masculine biographies to become gradually rewritten (Decker et al., 2014; Deuchar,
2018).
Religion, criminal offending and desistance
Religion has been described as a ‘system of transcendent beliefs . . . manifested in diverse
practices, customs, denominational and institutional formations’ (Whitehead, 2013: 1). It
normally involves an organised entity with established rules, practices, beliefs and bound-
aries about a Higher Power to which individuals should adhere (Tanyi, 2006). Much
scholarship has drawn upon control theory perspectives to argue that practising religion
can provide offenders with a stake in conformity (Giordano et al., 2008; Hallet and
McCoy, 2014; Hirschi and Stark, 1969; Schroeder and Frana, 2009). Functionalists have
often claimed that religious beliefs provide a strong foundation for moral behaviour, thus
enabling offenders to express remorse for previous activity. At the same time, they argue
that religious engagement can help to prevent deviation from societal norms in the future
(Clear and Sumter, 2002; Jensen and Gibbons, 2002; Stansfield et al., 2018).
In the case of male gang members, some suggest that engaging in religious practices
can facilitate gang disengagement and desistance (see Johnson and Densley, 2018), both
because religion serves as a credible ‘desistance signal’ to others (Densley and Pyrooz,
2019), and because it helps re-orientate masculine expression away from the street and
engagement in criminal networks and onto conventional social, family and household
roles (Flores, 2014). Giordano et al. (2008: 102) also highlight that engagement in a reli-
gious community can be compatible with differential association theory and that religious
practice can introduce offenders to strong social bonds and attachments to conventional
others which can subsequently generate the social capital that supports gradual disengage-
ment from crime (Hallet and McCoy, 2014; Stansfield et al., 2018).
However, some scholars have remained sceptical about the potential of religion to inhibit
offending (Clear and Sumter, 2002). For instance, Giordano et al. (2008) draw attention to
the claims emerging from several research studies that there is no apparent difference
between religious and nonreligious youth in criminal offending. Others highlight that reli-
gious conversion is not the only way to cope with the shame and stigma of previous offend-
ing behaviour and imprisonment but that nonreligious conversion narratives – or
‘redemption scripts’ – can play an important role (Maruna, 2001: 87). These are often
characterised by offenders’ tendency to find meaning in their experiences of crime, a desire
to ‘give something back’ to others, an increased sense of hope and control over their future
and a desire to ‘make good’ from past wrongs (Maruna, 2001: 87; see also Deuchar, 2018).
Engagement in wider, more holistic spiritual practices within secular contexts may thus
provide an additional stimulus for nurturing these narrative changes and redemption scripts
(Maruna, 2001; Deuchar, 2018).
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Youth Justice 20(1-2)
Spirituality, holistic practices and implications for desistance
It has been argued that spirituality is a ‘multifaceted concept that is very personal and
experiential’, and tends to be concerned with ‘any experience of transcendence of one’s
former frame of reference that results in greater knowledge and love’ (Hall et al., 2011:
207). Some evidence suggests that ‘third wave’, ascetic-spiritual practices such as yoga
and meditation can help to...
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