Gangs and Spirituality

Ross Deuchar is Assistant Dean in the School of Education and Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Crime, Policing and Social Justice within the University of the West of Scotland, UK. He has published widely on youth violence and crime, gangs and criminal desistance.

“Throughout the book, readers will encounter rich narrative and biographical accounts of offenders, their backgrounds, their offences, and their road to desistance. It is through these accounts that complex stories are neatly unpacked through a combination of theory and consumable novelistic perspectives.” (Mohammed Rahman, The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, Vol. 58 (1), March, 2018)

• Chapter 1. Introduction: Gangs in Global Perspective.- PART I. Gangs, Masculinity and Spirituality: Existing Theories and Insights.- Chapter 2. Gang Members 'Doing Masculinity'.- Chapter 3. Religious and Spiritual Desistance from Gangs.- PART II. Los Angeles, USA: From Gangs and Guns to Love and Compassion.- Chapter 4. Amplified Masculinity among Los Angeles Homeboys.- Chapter 5. Love, Compassion and Therapeutic Communities in Homeboy Industries.- PART III. Scotland and Denmark: From Violence, Offending and Prison Life to Religiosity, Yoga and Breathing.- Chapter 6. Masculinity, Morality and Offending in Scotland and Denmark.- Chapter 7. Support in Times of Trouble: Chaplaincy in Scottish and Danish Prisons.- Chapter 8. 'Warriors' to 'Peacemakers': Yoga, breathing and Meditation in Denmark.- PART IV: Hong Kong: From Triad-Affiliated Gangsters to Christian Brothers.- Chapter 9. Foot Soldiers, Gangsters and Drug Addicts in Hong Kong.- Chapter 10. From Criminal Gangsters to Men ofGod.- Chapter 11. Conclusion: From Masculine Criminal Distinction to Spiritual Distinction.