The role of moral disengagement in street gang offending

Abstract

Previous research indicates a strong association between gang membership and increased offending behaviour. Several risk factors for gang membership have been identified and incorporated into integrated and developmental theories of gang membership. Despite this, little is known about the psychological processes that underpin gang membership and enhance the rate of offending within this context. Even less is known of the differences in such psychological processes between gang offenders and those who offend in other contexts. The current study builds on previous research by exploring the role of moral disengagement as one potential process in a prison sample of 269 offenders. The first part of the study found that street gang offenders were more likely than non-street gang offenders to utilise moral disengagement strategies in order to deactivate their usual moral standards. The second part revealed that street gang offenders were more likely than individual offenders or those who have affiliated, but not offended with, street gangs to morally disengage. There was no difference in the tendency to morally disengage between street gang and group offenders. Overall, certain conditions that exist within a street gang and other group contexts may increase an individual's tendency to morally disengage and enhance offending behaviour.