Psychopathy, gang membership, and moral disengagement among juvenile offenders
| Published date | 02 February 2015 |
| Date | 02 February 2015 |
| Pages | 13-24 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-11-2014-0016 |
| Author | Katie Dhingra,Agata Debowska,Kathryn Sharratt,Philip Hyland,Susanna Kola-Palmer |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Criminal psychology |
Psychopathy, gang membership, and
moral disengagement among
juvenile offenders
Katie Dhingra, Agata Debowska, Kathryn Sharratt, Philip Hyland and Susanna Kola-Palmer
Dr Katie Dhingra is a Lecturer in
Psychology, based at
Manchester Metropolitan
University, Manchester, UK.
Dr Agata Debowska is a
Lecturer in Psychology, based
at Department of Psychology,
University of Chester,
Chester, UK.
Kathryn Sharratt is a Lecturer in
Criminology, based at
University of Huddersfield,
Huddersfield, UK.
Dr Philip Hyland is a Lecturer in
Psychology, based at National
College of Ireland,
Dublin, Ireland.
Dr Susanna Kola-Palmer is a
Senior Lecturer in Psychology,
based at Universityof
Huddersfield,Huddersfield, UK.
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang
membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from home,
family member and/or friend arrests, substance misuse, parental physical fights, violence exposure
(victimization and witnessing), and maternal warmth and hostility.
Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on data collected from serious juvenile
offenders (n ¼769) as part of the Pathways to Desistance Study.
Findings – Six independent variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model: gang
membership, age, gender,violence exposure, and psychopathy Factors 1 and 2. Psychopathy Factor 1 was
the strongest predictor of moral disengagement.
Originality/value – Results indicate that youth with heightened psychopathic traits make greater use of
strategies to rationalize and justify their harmful behaviour against others. Implications in relation to theory
and previous studies are discussed.
Keywords Psychopathy, Gang membership, Juvenile offenders, Moral disengagement,
Pathways to Desistance, Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
According to social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986, 1999), most individuals refrain from
transgressive behaviour most of the time because they have internalized society’s standards of
conduct. Consequently, acts of harmful or aggressive behaviour risk not only external sanctions
(e.g. condemnation, rejection, punishment) but also internal moral self-sanctions for acting
against their beliefs (e.g. feelings of guilt and shame, damage to one’s self-concept). To avoid
self-censure, Bandura proposed that individuals construct rationalizations and justifications for
behaviours that violate moral standards (e.g. aggression, delinquency, crime, and violence), a
process called moral disengagement. Social cognitive theory, much like neutralization theory
(Sykes and Matza, 1957) describes eight inter-related strategies that individuals may employ to
rationalize and justify their harmful acts against others. Moral justification, euphemistic labelling,
and advantageous comparison refer to mechanisms that serve to cognitively restructure
harmful acts so that they appear less damaging. Dehumanization, distortion of consequences,
and the attribution of blame mechanisms serve to reduce or eliminate the distress one perceives
to be causing a victim. Moral disengagement has been found to influence various forms of
antisocial conduct both directly and by reducing pro-social behaviour and guilt, and by
promoting aggression (Bandura, 1999, 2002).
Intact emotional processes are seen as essential to moral reasoning, providing immediate
and salient feedback on behaviour (Blair et al., 2005; Eisenberg, 2000; Tangney et al., 2007).
DOI 10.1108/JCP-11-2014-0016 VOL. 5 NO. 1 2015, pp. 13-24, CEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2009-3829
j
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
j
PAGE 13
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