CCJS 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Social Control, Informal Social Control
19 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CONTROLLING CRIME AND DESSISTANCE
-Desistance: why do people stop committing crime?
-Is it achieved after your last known crime?
-Slowly declining in frequency of crimes?
-“Cold Turkey” or more gradual process?
-Does is require changes in behaviors, beliefs and attitudes, both?
The Desistance Process
-Occurs over a period of time
-Shadd Maruna (2001), Making Good
-Long-term abstinence from crime among individuals who had previously engaged in
persistent patterns of criminal offending
-Laub & Sampson (2001)
-Termination: point when criminal activity stops
-Desistance: underlying process by which termination occurs
Research Findings
-Prevalence of crime does decline with age
-Variability, race, culture, gender
-Incidence of crime does not necessarily decline with age, may increase for some subgroups
-There is continuity in offending
-Childhood Adolescence Adulthood
-Multiple pathways to desistance
Theory
-Most criminological theory focuses on the onset, “what causes people to commit crime?”
-Not as commonly focused on is desistance, “what causes people to stop committing crime?”
-Low self-control: about establishing control in early life
-Maturational reform, development of physical, intellectual, and affective capacity and
stability
-People vary on this continuum based on age, age has a direct effect on crime
-(Almost) everyone stops, finding out why is not very interesting
-Developmental: changing behavioral patterns and cognitive shifts overtime
Document Summary
Long-term abstinence from crime among individuals who had previously engaged in persistent patterns of criminal offending. Incidence of crime does not necessarily decline with age, may increase for some subgroups. Most criminological theory focuses on the onset, what causes people to commit crime? . Not as commonly focused on is desistance, what causes people to stop committing crime? . Low self-control: about establishing control in early life. Maturational reform, development of physical, intellectual, and affective capacity and stability. People vary on this continuum based on age, age has a direct effect on crime. (almost) everyone stops, finding out why is not very interesting. Developmental: changing behavioral patterns and cognitive shifts overtime. People stop committing crime because you have established your independence, you have matured so you no longer have to establish independence. Rational choice: decision to desist is much like the decision to start.
