Some Cognitive Transformations About the Dynamics of Desistance

This article explores the role of cognitive transformations in the process of desistance from crime. Based on our own and others’ subsequent research, clearly, some aspects of our initial theorizing warrant revisiting and adjustment. The discussion describes changes to ideas about the sequencing of various types of cognitive shifts, suggests the importance of emotional processes in tandem with changes in perspective, and highlights the need to move out of the comfort zone of crime itself when thinking about redefinitions that support desistance. Yet, a consistent notion remains that social and broader structural factors are deeply implicated—directly and indirectly—in all aspects of the change process. This includes the important area of “derailments” from a pattern of forward progress, where additional processual research is needed. The discussion concludes with the argument that individualistic policies and programs centered on cognitive deficits requiring correction are likely to be limited in their effectiveness

The Wider Circle of Friends in Adolescence

Adolescents interact with a variety of peers, in addition to the close friends generally emphasized in the literature. In this article I contrast the style and content of the communications directed to close friends and other youths characterized by varying degrees of \u27\u27nearness and remoteness.\u27\u27 The handwritten messages found in high school yearbooks are analyzed and used to illustrate some of the distinct features of each type of discourse. This analysis suggests that while intimate relations undoubtedly play a key role in development, adolescents also learn a great deal about themselves and the social world they must navigate through their interactions with the wider circle of friends

Les types de délinquantes : une étude longitudinale des causes et des conséquences

L’existence de différences sexuelles sur le plan du comportement antisocial est un fait largement répandu et accepté en criminologie, et ce, depuis la naissance de cette discipline. Bien que depuis une trentaine d’années les chercheurs se soient intéressés plus que jamais à la recherche théorique et empirique du comportement antisocial des femmes, force est de constater que les criminologues n’ont pas encore pleinement exploré la diversité des types de délinquance féminine. Notre examen des causes et des conséquences de la délinquance féminine s’appuie sur trois postulats de base : 1) la population délinquante est hétérogène 2) l’existence de types distincts de délinquantes est le produit de processus causaux qui sont à la fois communs et distincts et 3) les conséquences à long terme de la délinquance varient selon le type de délinquantes. Les données autorapportées ont été recueillies à partir d’un échantillon de répondantes interrogées en 1982, alors qu’elles étaient adolescentes, et subséquemment en 1992, alors qu’elles avaient atteint l’âge adulte. Nos analyses ont décelé des facteurs étiologiques uniques et communs à l’ensemble des types de délinquantes, ainsi que des événements de vie variant en fonction d’une diversité de dimensions comportementales, personnelles et interpersonnelles. Nos résultats font ressortir qu’une consommation de drogues durant l’adolescence a des effets particulièrement délétères chez les femmes lors du passage de l’adolescence à l’âge adulte.The gender difference in antisocial behaviour has been an accepted fact in criminology since the birth of the discipline. Although the past thirty years have seen more theorizing and research on antisocial behaviour among females than at any previous time, criminologists have yet to fully explore the diversity of types that make up the female offender population. Our examination of the causes and consequences of female offending begins with three basic assumptions: 1) a heterogeneity of types characterizes the offending population 2) distinct offender types are the product of both shared and unique causal processes and 3) the longterm consequences of offending vary among offender types. Self-report data were gathered from a sample of female respondents interviewed in 1982 when they were adolescents, and subsequently in 1992 when they were young adults. Our analyses identify both common and unique etiologies among several distinct types of offenders, as well as differential life course outcomes along a variety of behavioural, personal and interpersonal dimensions. Our findings are noteworthy in suggesting that adolescent drug use has particularly deleterious effects for females as they transition to young adulthood

Gender, Crime, and Desistance: Toward a Theory of Cognitive Transformation

his article analyzes data derived from the first detailed long-term follow-up of a sample of serious adolescent female delinquents and similarly situated males. Neither marital attachment nor job stability, factors frequently associated with male desistance from crime, were strongly related to female or male desistance. A symbolic-interactionist perspective on desistance is developed as a counterpoint to Sampson and Laub\u27s theory of informal social control, and life history narratives are used to illustrate the perspective. This cognitive theory is generally compatible with a control approach but (a) adds specificity regarding underlying change mechanisms, (b) explains some negative cases, and (c) fits well with life course challenges facing contemporary serious female (and more provisionally male) offenders