NCJ Number
192442
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 730-748
Date Published
December 2001
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This Israeli study examined whether or not delinquent behavior is influenced by a lack of commitment to any clearly defined moral or social center or to the behavioral norms to which such a center gives rise.
Abstract
The study involved 75 phenomenological interviews with 50 former prisoners who underwent a program of rehabilitation, as well as with 25 prisoners who did not undergo such a program. The sample of the latter group was chosen at random from among a population of 71 felons serving prison terms in the central region of Israel in the years 1996 to 1999. The interviews steered the participants to discuss the nature of their delinquency, the reasons for their delinquency, their worldview in the context of obeying the law, and their relationships with the law-abiding society or with criminal society. Subjects who had participated in a rehabilitation program were also asked about the differences between their present world and their former criminal world. The interviews determined that the delinquency of the participants was an outcome of what is called in many languages, including Hebrew, "balagan" (a chaotic or messy life). The balagan is caused by a lack of moral and behavioral centers, and it is characterized by confusing and contradictory norms of criminal and noncriminal behavior. This conclusion is inconsistent with theories that explain criminality in terms of cultural perspective, but it fits the center theory and the theories of social control. The balagan was mainly expressed by contradictions between offenders' attitudes and behavior, as well as between their positive images and criminal acts. None of the prisoners and ex-prisoners justified breaking the law, but they attempted to minimize their responsibility by means of justifications and excuses. The randomness and confusion of the subjects were the products of faulty socialization, which found expression in their parents' lack of control over their behavior and the lack of direction during their childhood, in contradictory educational messages that they received from their parents, and in the failure of educational institutions to develop in them a commitment to normative behavior. 1 table and 65 references