NCJ Number
205847
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 184-200
Date Published
May 2004
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Using data collected as part of the Liverpool Desistance Study (LDS), this analysis was a preliminary attempt to explore the role of explanatory style (interpretation of events in one's life) in desistance from crime.
Abstract
The LDS involved life-story interviews with just over 100 British citizens who had formerly spent time in prison for a variety of crimes, mostly drug-related and property offending. None had been imprisoned for murder, sexual assault, or manslaughter. The goal of the LDS research was to determine the psychological mindset that apparently best supported efforts to "go straight" and maintain a crime-free life. Approximately 55 of the participants were classified as desisting from crime (based on self-reports). These were all individuals who were at one time long-term, habitual offenders, but had been crime-free and drug-free for more than a year at the time of the interview. They reported having no plans for future criminal behavior. A total of 34 of the interviewees were classified as persisting or active in their criminal careers. They reported recent criminal activity and also admitted to explicit plans to continue selling drugs, robbing convenience stores, etc. Although small, this collection of narrative profiles is sufficiently large to facilitate some basic and tentative explorations of the role of social cognition in criminal behavior. The study found that active offenders and desisting ex-offenders differed in their styles of explaining the events of their lives. Compared to desisting ex-offenders, active offenders tended to interpret negative events in their lives as being the product of internal, stable, and global forces; i.e., criminal behavior is an expression of the essence of the person, and a criminal lifestyle is a reflection of who they are as a person. Positive events, on the other hand, were interpreted as being uncomfortable, incompatible experiences that did not fit their needs and sense of self. Those who desisted from offending interpreted negative events in their lives, such as criminal offending, as being external, unstable events that were aberrant departures from their true selves and life aspirations. Desisting from crime was thus a matter of being faithful to what they really wanted from life and from themselves. These findings held when variables such as age, marriage, gender, employment, age at first arrest, drug involvement, age at first conviction, and previous convictions were added to the model. These findings suggest that in the focus on offender neutralizations for their crimes, criminologists should focus on offenders' attributions for positive life events. 5 tables and 37 references