Deviant Behavior

Song, Qi; Li, Xiaojun; Xiang, Yanhui

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2350976pmid: N/A

Paternal love plays a crucial role in a child’s moral sensitivity. Previous studies in psychology focused on exploring the relationship between mother figures and their children’s moral development, while there needed to be more research on paternal love. Moreover, the potential path by which father-love absence affects an individual’s moral sensitivity is still unclear. Thus, based on social learning theory, we explored the mediating roles of awe and perspective-taking in the relationship between the lack of fatherly love and individuals’ moral sensitivity. 1,795 adolescents living in mainland China were recruited to participate in the study. They were asked to complete four different assessment scales, including the Father-Love Absence Scale (FLAS), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index-C Scale (IRI-C), the Dispositional Positive Emotion Scale (DPES), and the Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ). The results showed that, firstly, father-love absence directly negatively affected children’s moral sensitivity. Secondly, awe emotion mediated the effect of father-love absence on children’s moral sensitivity. Thirdly, perspective-taking ability mediated the effect of father-love absence on children’s moral sensitivity. This study provided theoretical support to explore factors in enhancing individuals’ moral sensitivity, such as inhibiting father-love absence by experiencing awe emotion and promoting the ability of perspective-taking.

Vähä-Aho, Vilja; Kaakinen, Markus

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2350984pmid: N/A

In this paper, we analyze the prevalence of animal abuse and its associations with antisocial behavior using representative random school sample from Finnish adolescents (N = 5674; Mage = 15.3). According to our results, the lifetime prevalence of animal abuse in adolescents was 5%, with 13% reporting exposure to animal abuse. The likelihood of animal abuse was positively associated with bullying and nonviolent delinquent behavior, low empathy toward animals, and exposure to animal abuse. Violent offending was not found to be associated with animal abuse, highlighting bullying-specific dynamics. Our findings partly comply with the deviance generalization hypothesis, which suggests that animal abuse is part of a more generic pattern of antisocial behavior among adolescents. We conclude that because animal abuse and antisocial behavior are related many of the same tools used to address and prevent bullying or criminal behavior can be expected to work, at least partly, in preventing animal abuse. Collaboration and information-sharing between animal and child welfare agencies are important and warrant further investigations and development.

Manole, Steluța; Enea, Violeta

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2350997pmid: N/A

The study aimed to: (1) analyze differences between psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders in terms of difficulties in emotion regulation and callous-unemotional traits, (2) investigate the association between difficulties in emotion regulation and callous-unemotional traits among psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders, and (3) examine the mediation role of guilt in the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and callous-unemotional traits among non-psychopathic offenders, controlling for the level of desirable responses. The participants were 191 incarcerated male adult offenders serving their sentences in closed and semi-open custody. The incarcerated offenders participated in a semi-structured interview and completed self-report measures of emotion dysregulation, guilt, callous-unemotional traits, and social desirability. According to the results on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised, 60 (27.9%) participants were included in the psychopathic group, while 131 (60.9%) were non-psychopathic. The results showed a positive relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation, callousness, and psychopathy. The multiple regression analysis indicated that guilt contributed to the variance of callousness. Guilt was a mediator in the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and callousness among the group of non-psychopathic incarcerated offenders. The current study highlighted the importance of guilt as an adaptive moral emotion useful in the treatment of several psychological problems among male offenders.

Suzuki, Masahiro

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2352047pmid: N/A

Although restorative justice (RJ) and desistance are theoretically interlinked, less is empirically known about how and why RJ conferencing may support change toward desistance. Drawing on the South Australian Juvenile Justice dataset, I examined how young offenders’ experiences with RJ conferencing coincide or overlap with desistance trajectories. The findings led to establishing the concept of offender journeys, which identified three distinct desistance trajectories through RJ conferencing: (1) optimal journeys, whereby young offenders had a positive experience with RJ conferencing and completely ceased crime, (2) changing journeys, whereby young offenders had a positive experience with RJ conferencing but faced challenges in maintaining a crime-free lie, and (3) difficult journeys, whereby young offenders escalated their offending after RJ conferencing. This finding suggests that youth desistance trajectories through RJ conferencing are more divergent than discussed in the literature, calling for a multifaceted theoretical explanation rather than a single desistance theory.

Lazarus, Suleman

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2352049pmid: N/A

I explored the relationship between the “Black Axe” Confraternity and cybercrime, with a particular emphasis on the structural dynamics of the Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes. I investigated whether a conventional hierarchical system governs the membership and remuneration for BEC roles as perpetrators by interviewing an accused “leader” of the “Black Axe” affiliated cybercriminal incarcerated in a prominent Western nation. I supplemented the analysis of interview data with insights from tapped phone records monitored by a law enforcement entity. I merged Actor-network theory and Social Network theory as analytical frameworks and thematically analyzed data to produce six overarching themes: (1) The fluidity of Structure and Adaptive Roles in BEC, (2) Challenges in Visualizing Criminal Networks, (3) Globalization and Transnational Dimensions, (4) Social and Cultural Influences, (5) Internal Cybersecurity Threats and Money Laundering, and (6) Remuneration and Influences of Cryptocurrency, casting a brighter light on the topic. Unlike traditional organized crime, BEC scammers have adopted a nonhierarchical model that is flexible and fluid. I found no evidence of a rigid hierarchy dictating positions and remuneration for BEC roles. Instead, I observed that cybercriminals involved in BEC activities functioned horizontally, promoting fluidity, maneuverability, collaboration, and specialization across various facets of their illicit pursuits. I also highlighted the cross-border links BEC offenders have with other criminal actors facilitated by Black Axe organizational machinery. My research adds value to the existing body of knowledge, utilizing a unique dataset comprising direct testimonies of a high-profile BEC offender affiliated with the ‘hard–to–access,’ Black Axe gang.

Peterson, Bryce E.; Kim, KiDeuk

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2354340pmid: N/A

The breach of professional boundaries by correctional staff involves various transgressive behaviors and improper relationships with incarcerated individuals. Extant literature has focused on identifying and measuring such behaviors using non-probability samples of correctional officers and formerly incarcerated individuals from single jurisdictions. This research aims to build on this body of work by exploring how key measures related to a specific type boundary violations – staff involvement in introducing contraband – affects the level of contraband in 301 prisons across six states. We investigate three key assumptions about staff motivations for smuggling contraband into their facilities. Some motivations, such as (1) inappropriate relationships with residents and (2) financial gains, tend to be premediated while others, like (3) the lack of accountability and oversight at work, can create opportunistic circumstances that affect staff motivations. The results from negative binomial regression show modest support for each assumption tested in explaining the levels of contraband drugs and cellphones while accounting for relevant prison characteristics. We conclude by delving into the implications of our findings for research, policy, and practice.

Houdek, Petr; Bahník, Štěpán; Vrbová, Lucie; Hájek, Jiří

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2354349pmid: N/A

According to the just-world theory, people tend to blame innocent victims for the misfortune they experienced to preserve the belief in a just world. Our preregistered experimental study (N = 404; a university participants pool) employed work-related scenarios to test the possibility of reducing victim-blaming by taking a victim’s perspective. We also explored whether “victim-blaming” occurs for both undeserved negative and positive outcomes, i.e. attributions of blame or virtue in scenarios including demotions, dismissals, public reprimands, and removal of responsibilities as negative outcomes; and bonuses, promotions, salary raises, and job hirings as positive outcomes. We found that victim-blaming followed from the just-world belief only in scenarios where an individual gains unjust benefit. The belief in a just world could thus lead to the misattribution of positive work outcomes and could result in biased human resources management. Taking the victim’s perspective did not reduce attributions of blame and virtue. However, participants considered the outcomes more deserved when they took the perpetrator’s perspective. This finding may be a warning that if a perpetrator’s perception framework is more accessible for assessing a particular situation, the victims will be blamed more.

Luu, Vinh Trinh; Williams, J. Patrick

doi: 10.1080/01639625.2024.2354892pmid: N/A

In this article, we examine how fans on social media platforms manage their identities when faced with moral dilemmas in which their self-images and parasocial relations with idols are jeopardized. In particular, we explore how fans use social identification and deviant labeling as strategies to position themselves as distinct but not deviant cultural consumers. We choose a particular case of stigmatization within the Korean pop culture context – the Burning Sun Scandal involving Korean idol Seungri – to demonstrate this process. Drawing on concepts from social identity, subcultures, and deviance scholarship, we show how fans involved in discussions about the Burning Sun scandal explicitly linked themselves to conventional and/or subcultural moral and behavioral norms, while altercasting fans who expressed differing opinions regarding the idol’s guilt versus innocence. Through the analysis of fans’ identity claims, this study provides insights into how fans manage positive self-identification against a backdrop of media discourses in which the moral reputations of celebrity idols are called into question.