In recent years, in Portugal, public demonstrations of movements such as 'Que se Lixe a Troika: Queremos as NossasVidas de Volta' and 'Geração a `Rasca' have led to police repression highly scrutinized by mass media. However, a specific understanding is still lacking as to how police officers and civil society are construing the repression of this kind of event and also as to how moral agency is thereof inhibited. To police officers (as 'power-holders') and to civil society in general, this analysis is equally important in understanding the cognitive patterns supporting the resort and appeal to police violence. Drawing upon a qualitative research design developed in Portugal during 2011 and 2013, this paper discusses the processes of moral disengagement in regard to the repression exercised during social demonstrations, considering both the accounts of common citizens (Group 1) and police officers (Group 2). Results and discussion are centered on the main processes of moral disengagement, namely moral justification (behavior locus), displacement of responsibility (agency locus), dehumanization, and blame attribution (recipient locus). If to a certain extent the moral values (e.g., protection, public order) are aligned in both groups to justify violence, their mobilizations seem to emerge in quite different ways when it comes to social protest. Displacement of authority is a usual mechanism among police officers, but it is to a great extent contested by common citizens. Dehumanization and blame attribution emerged also as a major mechanism of moral disengagement mainly among police officers' group. However, empathy may reconfigure the support of these mechanisms, specifically when it comes to social protest. Strengths and weaknesses of the power of 'empathy' toward agency activation are discussed. We conclude with research implications and prospects.

This paper comprises a theoretical and empirical incursion into the phenomenon of state violence, namely police violence. Although extensively explored in different perspectives within and outside academia, police violence is complex and has not been sufficiently problematized yet. In our understanding, this phenomenon requires a dialectical and dynamic discussion wherein both the development of state powers (macro-perspective) and how these powers affect the subjectification of those who act on their behalf (micro-perspective) are articulated into a critical analysis. In more concrete terms, the present study contributes to such analysis by shedding light on the main processes of moral disengagement (cf. Bandura, 1990, 1999, 2004) disclosed in the internal perspectives of six Portuguese police officers about common daily work-related situations. To legitimize the resort to police violence, police officers rely heavily on different mechanisms of moral disengagement. For instance, sanitizing language (anchored in a police technical jargon) is typically used as a linguistic mechanism to disguise violent actions; advantageous comparisons with other law enforcement agencies or with the recipient’s conduct are typically employed; non-lethal violence is usually minimized and portrayed as innocuous; and the recipient of violence is usually dehumanised and seen as responsible for the acts of violence. The findings are discussed based on the moral disengagement theory (Bandura, 1990, 1999, 2004); on the denial approach (Cohen, 2001, 2003); and on the impact of organizational, legal and socio-cultural dimensions of police organization (e.g., Fassin, 2011; Huggins, Haritos-Fatouros, & Zimbardo, 2002).

Resumo: Diversas dimensões relativas à família, como a estrutura e as dinâmicas familiares (cf., Contreras, Molina & Cano, 2011), e relacionadas com o grupo de pares (cf. Cottle, Lee & Heilbrun, 2001) têm sido associadas à reincidência de comportamentos delinquentes em jovens. Trazendo novos contributos para esta discussão, o objetivo do estudo apresentado consiste em avaliar como diferentes dimensões de risco familiares e do grupo de pares variam de acordo com diferentes percursos de reincidência (i.e., não reincidentes, reincidentes intermédios, reincidentes persistentes). Recorrendo a uma amostra de 105 jovens em cumprimento de medida tutelar educativa, este estudo foi realizado em Portugal e centrou-se na reincidência dos jovens no contacto com o sistema de justiça como indicador de percursos delinquentes persistentes. Os resultados revelam que mais de metade dos jovens da amostra (54.3%) são reincidentes, tendo cumprido medidas tutelares educativas anteriores. Entre as variáveis significativamente associadas à reincidência, destacam-se a existência de contactos anteriores com o sistema de proteção e os comportamentos delinquentes do grupo de pares. Em conjunto, esses fatores parecem relacionar-se com o envolvimento em atos delinquentes, enfatizando a necessidade de serem desenvolvidas intervenções integradas para prevenir a reincidência.Abstract: Different family factors such as structure, family dynamics (cf. Contreras, Molina & Cano, 2011) and peer-related variables (cf. Cottle, Lee & Heilbrun, 2001) have been linked to recidivism among young offenders. Bringing new contributions to this discussion, our goal was to evaluate how different family and peer factors of risk differ according to various recidivism pathways (e.g., non-reoffenders; moderate reoffenders; persistent reoffenders). Taking a sample of 105 young offenders, complying with youth justice measures, the present study has been developed in Portugal and focuses on recidivism as an indicator of persistent reoffending. Results showed that more than half of young offenders in the sample (54.3%) are reoffenders, as they have already complied with former youth justice measures. Among the most relevant variables associated with recidivism are a previous connection with the protection system, and the criminal behavior of the young offenders' peers. Together, these factors may relate to delinquent behavior, highlighting the need to develop integrated interventions, in order to prevent recidivism.Palavras-chave: medidas tutelares educativas, reincidência, fatores de risco, família, grupo de pares.

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Historically, psychology has been deeply associated with the defense and active normalization of conflicts, war, and established social orders. For instance, it is well-known that one of the most important grounds for the legitimacy of psychology as a scientific discipline depended on psychologists’ work done during the First and Second World Wars. At those times, and perhaps in a culturally biased way, psychological tests for military selection and practical models to treat war-related problems were widely employed. Psychology gained a practical terrain for professionalization for both clinical and social psychologists within such context. However, psychology has also been used on behalf of emancipation, and not always in the field of conflicts, war, and oppression. One of the most interesting critical movements which has tried to move psychology into an emancipatory realm has been Peace Psychology. In general, this discipline has been open to framing, discussing, and participating actively in interventions developed in the name of peace and human rights. In accordance, in this paper, we seek to capture a) the historical development of peace psychology; b) the establishment of peace psychology as a field of psychology and of peace studies; and c) some reflections upon the omnipresent challenges and possible co-options that may shape the emblematic critical engagement of this discipline.