NCJ Number
207035
Journal
The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 43 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2004 Pages: 405-419
Date Published
September 2004
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article explores some theoretical perspectives that might aid in the development of a heuristic understanding of female desistance from crime.
Abstract
This article suggests that by developing an understanding of natural desistance from crime or other deviance with these insights into resilience and survival that research may begin to generate principles for rehabilitation strategies that enhance and sustain the cognitive and behavioral changes accompanying the transition from a criminal to a conventional lifestyle. Readiness to desist from crime has received little attention with interest being focused more intensively on the active development of reform efforts. The research studied readiness for reform from three different vantages: personal identity, opportunity, and scripts. Personal identity reveals that desistance comes from an individual sense of self and the aversion to criminal activity. Opportunity is what is needed to have the chance to reform cognitive scripts is defined as a coherent sequence of events expected by the individual, involving her either as a participant or as an observer. Success in desistance is found through mastery of a new identity and maintenance of that identity. Management of problematic personal relationships emerges as a crucial element at this maintenance stage. Offenders must focus on resilience and separate themselves from destructive kinships. Social support networks are also necessary for successful desistance. Access to prosocial peers and communities tends to promote more healthy behavior. Rehabilitation and natural desistance can evolve as a process that is usually initiated by an opportunity to claim a prosocial identity during a period of reform readiness, which is sustained by employment of reform maintenance practices. The evidence researchers found as crucial to women's success was the use of support networks for women's resilience. Strategies should not focus on fixing individual shortcomings, but rather should develop an active role in contributing to the health of communities through development of broader a support system in which offenders can participate. References