Patients or Perpetrators? An Exploration of Psychological Trauma in Incarcerated Gang and Non-Gang Males

Gangs and gang violence are a serious problem affecting the health and wealth of many communities across the globe. Violence is central to the gang's identity and operation; as such, the majority of gang research has focused on understanding gang members as perpetrators of violence using traditional socio-criminological theories that support a criminal justice solution. To date, little research has focussed on the psychological causes or effects of violence in this population. This is surprising giving that trauma exposure and traumatic sequalae, such as PTSD, are known risk factors for criminal justice involvement, and that gang members, by virtue of the activities they participate in, are likely to be exposed to potentially traumatising events. Building on the psycho-traumatological study of juvenile delinquents and the growing discipline of gang psychology, this thesis marks a small contribution towards a systematic programme of research dedicated to mapping, and intervening to change, the trauma pathways of gang-involved males.

Across six chapters, comprising theory, empirical works, and critical commentary this thesis found that; 1) there is a significant gap in the extant literature that illuminates the need for more trauma-centric gang studies; 2) existing developmental models of trauma can be re-purposed and adapted to explain how PTSD-induced deficits in biological, emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal functioning, alongside harmful group processes inherent in the gang, contribute to more severe and enduring trauma trajectories for gang members compared to their non-gancounterparts; 3) results from the quantitative study showed that gang members were more likely to experience weapons-related trauma, including exposure to toxic substances, as well greater levels of group identification, group pressure, pluralistic ignorance, moradisengagement, individual and group delinquency, and were more likely to exhibit antisocial and paranoid personality traits. The qualitative findings speak to the xpervasiveness and disruptiveness of trauma in the lives' of young incarcerated males, irrespective of membership status.

The implications of this thesis speak to the propogration of a new subdiscipline of psychological research-Gang Psychotraumatology; the creation of trauma-informed place-based interventions that consider the multiple dichotomies of gang members as individuals and group agents, victims and perpetrators; and policies that support the humanisation and rehabilitation of gang members.