Identity Development of the Incarcerated Adolescent with Particular Reference to Prison Gang Membership

• NCJ Number: 221560
• Journal: Acta Criminologica Volume: 20 Issue: 3 Dated: 2007 Pages: 61-74
• Author(s): R. Peacock; A. Theron
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: South Africa
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Annotation

The purpose of this study was to focus on gang activity as a particular risk factor impacting negatively on role experimentation and identity development of incarcerated youth in South Africa.

Abstract

Concurring with previous findings, results of the study indicate that incarcerated adolescents that achieved a low level of identity development were significantly more likely to be members of prison gangs than those with a high level of identity development. It also transpired that research participants with a lower level of identity development were significantly more likely to have friends that belonged to a gang than those with a higher level of identity development. Without any sense of direction, identity diffused subjects usually experience feelings of worthlessness and their delinquency often becomes a tool of self-destruction. They are frequently impulsive and irresponsible which are indicators of weak superego strength. The lack of purpose, value, and direction can render the incarcerated adolescent with a low level of a personal identity particularly vulnerable to gang membership. It was concluded that the dysfunctionality of these adaptations of the adolescent to institutional life could be viewed as “normal” reactions to a set of pathological prison conditions. The study illustrates the significance of the correctional or prison environment on the formation of adolescent identity. Confinement creates a prison community that requires the incarcerated adolescent to adjust to unfamiliar values, traditions, and social relationships. During the process of adaptation, they could experience changes in identity. Gang membership may assist the incarcerated adolescent with development deficits to attain ego identity. To assess the relationship between gang membership and the identity development of the incarcerated adolescent, this study examined gang activity as a particular risk factor impacting identity development of incarcerated youth in South Africa. Tables, bibliography