Article
How moral disengagement facilitates the detention of refugee children and families
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
(2017)
Abstract
Refugee children and families are a vulnerable demographic with the propensity to disrupt entrenched disparaging perceptions about immigrants. This project investigates how institutionalised moral disengagement practices [Bandura, Albert. 2002. “Selective Moral Disengagement in the Exercise of Moral Agency.” Journal of Moral Education 31: 101–119] at family detention centres facilitate the apprehension and confinement of children and families seeking asylum. Interviews with former volunteers and an analysis of news reports describing conditions at these centres reveal that moral disengagement plays a pivotal role in rationalising detention, while also enabling restrictive immigration policies and mass deportations. This occurs through the criminalisation of immigrants, suppressing details about residential conditions, and a quota capacity model. Findings are contextualised with regard to recent immigration legislations.
Keywords
- Child refugee,
- family detention centre,
- moral disengagement,
- immigration,
- for-profit prison
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter December 22, 2017
DOI
10.1080/1369183X.2017.1419860
Citation Information
Mary Grace Antony. "How moral disengagement facilitates the detention of refugee children and families" Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/marygrace-antony/78/