The Commitment of Delinquents to Their Misdeeds: Do Delinquents Drift?

In the field of delinquency many sociologisits have subscribed to the subcultural notion that delinquents share values that are in opposition to the dominant culture; Matza (1964) has alternatively suggested that delinquents and non-delinquents share similar moral prohibitions, but that episodic release from moral constraint (“drift”) allows the delinquents to engage in delinquent behavior. Sixty-nine Ss were asked to report on their involvment in 26 delinquent activities; they were also asked to evaluate each activity along an approval-disapproval continuum. For 13 of the 15 delinquent activities that could be analyzed, those engaging in the act were significantly (p < .05) more approving of the act those not engaging in the act. These findings do not support Matza and call into question the necessity of postulating the notion of drift.