Delinquency in the Mind of an Organization

Abstract

This article focuses on the work of a therapeutic unit for young males held in custody, in its organizational context. A particular case is elaborated as evidence of the operation of what the authors refer to as the `delinquent ego' of the organization. This organizational mentality has little space for meaningfully attending to the young people (detainees) in its care or for imagining what might be in their best rehabilitative interest, mirroring and repeating aspects of the history and delinquent mentality of its juvenile clientele. The place of the `special unit' in the mind of the parent organization, and the unconscious dialectic underpinning the relationship between the two, is considered in the light of this.