published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This thesis explores how young resisters and desisters in their teenage years maintain their resistance to and desistance from offending and asks to what extent they are agentic in the process. The term 'resister' refers to those who, according to a self-report survey, have never offended, and the term 'desister' to those who have offended and then ceased for at least twelve months. By situating desisters analytically adjacent to resisters, I have moved towards conceptualising desisters as current non-offenders. Desisters may have shared a past with persisters, as they have both offended. However, desisters share their current experience, that of maintaining non-offending, with resisters. It is this obvious, yet largely ignored, link between young resisters and desisters which underpins the thesis. Two qualitative methods, both of which elicited young people's own perspectives, were employed between 2003 and 2005. Secondary analysis of 112 qualitative interviews with resisters and desisters in their teenage years was conducted and peer led focus groups (in which a young peer, rather than an adult researcher, acted as the facilitator) were held with 52 teenage resisters. Young people's resistance to offending does not feature prominently in the literature. When it does, it is often associated with a state of innocence or passivity, while young desisters are said to 'grow out of' offending. This emphasis on an absence of offending, rather than on actively attained resistance, reflects an adult oriented view. The thesis challenges this by drawing on the sociology of childhood, a theoretical perspective which has not previously been applied to young people's resistance to and desistance from offending and which emphasises young people as agentic. Their agency is evidenced by the findings. Chapters Four and Five report how young people employ numerous strategies of resistance and desistance and Chapter Six how that they face trials and tribulations in maintaining their nonoffending, while Chapter Seven focuses on the 'being' rather than the 'doing' of sustaining non-offending. It is the work of Derrida that enables the argument to be taken a step further. Derrida's (1981) assertion is that binary oppositions are rarely neutral, but that one is the dominant pole. For example, in Western society the first of the following binary oppositions are usually regarded as the dominant or privileged pole: white/black, masculine/feminine, adult/child. In respect of the binary opposition at the heart of the current thesis, namely offender/non-offender, the non-offender is - from an adult perspective at least - the dominant pole and the non-offender is hailed as the norm. By contrast, several findings in the thesis point to the fact that the dominant pole in the binary opposition for young people is the offender rather than the non-offender. First, the discourse of young resisters and desisters suggests a view of the offender rather than non-offender as the norm. Secondly, many resisters and desisters face trials and tribulations, such as bullying, relating to their nonoffending status. Yet, if it were the case that the non-offender was the dominant pole and was privileged by young people (as it is in the adult population), resisters would not be penalised in such ways for not offending. Thirdly, some of the strategies used by resisters, such as involvement in anti-social behaviour, signify an attempt to compensate for their non-offending status. Again, if the non-offender was the dominant pole in the binary opposition, far from resorting to mechanisms to compensate for their non-offending behaviour, this behaviour would be encouraged, as it is by adults. This inverted world has implications for young resisters and desisters. Their resistance is to be understood in the context of an expectation of offending, rather than non-offending. Contrary to the notion of the pull of normality bringing desisters back to a non-offending state, the pull of normality among young desisters - and many resisters - is better understood as being towards offending. Resistance, evidenced by the strategies and trials and tribulations of resisters and desisters, is against this pull. Moreover, as non-offending is the modus operandi in the adult world, to be an adult non-offender requires less effort. For a young person, being a non-offender is more challenging than it is for adults and maintenance of resistance constitutes a struggle not previously reflected in adult representations. Adults, not having taken account of the different modus operandi of the young person's world, have not attributed agency to resistance and have underestimated young people's struggle to maintain resistance. The strategies demanded of resisters and desistcrs to maintain non-offending and the trials and tribulations which they face when they do have heretofore been overlooked.

This thesis explored the relationship between youth delinquency, family intervention treatment and recidivism through a meta-analysis of existing literature. Fifty individual effect size estimates were derived from thirty-five experimental research studies examining the impact of involving families in the treatment of young offenders. Initially, family intervention treatment was found to significantly reduce the recidivism of young offenders compared to non-familial responses to youth crime. Methodology, however, was found to be a crucial determinant of the reported effects of treatment; studies using less rigorous methods tended to produce significantly higher rates of success than studies using more rigorous methods. In terms of treatment characteristics, programs treating younger offenders and programs with voluntary participation displayed significantly lower levels of reported recidivism. The results suggested the need to develop more rigorous methods and reporting practices and to target younger offenders with voluntary family-based interventions.

No description available.

Growing federal attention to addressing collateral damages of the era of mass conviction and mass incarceration has led to millions in funding allocated to support successful reentry for offenders in contact with the justice system. In line with this initiative, federal agencies have recently turned to criminal desistance research to build on earlier recidivism studies and to inform successful reentry programs. In an effort to contribute to opportunities for future research within the desistance paradigm, this study was designed to explore the identity change process of the offender from deviant to prosocial, a continuously emerging concept within the desistance literature that has received little specific attention to date. The identity theory of desistance was used as the theoretical framework for this study in an effort to advance existing theory while exploring the phenomena of interest. The key research questions guiding inquiry related to understanding the lived experience of identity change as a component of the criminal desistance process, identifying determinants that influence this identity change, and identifying behaviors that support the changing identity. Data were secured using a combination of semi-structured interviews with 6 ex-offenders reportedly 10 or more years beyond desistance, observation around interviewing, and document reviews. Data were analyzed using a qualitative descriptive phenomenology approach. Results showed the essence of the experience of identity change through the criminal desistance process involves refining the internal and external world to fit the non-offending working identity. Results of this study advance existing knowledge and theory toward practical, transformative support for offenders on the road to positive reform.

Of the 700 offenders that are released from prison each year, seven in ten will be rearrested. There are a number of barriers face by released offenders that inhibit their successful reentry. These barriers include: mental health illness, limited work experience, lower education, substance abuse, lack of transportation, homelessness and poverty strain of family ties and/or close relationships. This paper explores the impact of social support on recidivism rates through a systematic review of the literature surrounding prosocial support. The implications for social work practice and research are also discussed.

This descriptive, statistical survey research design sought to identify factors that motivate individuals to stay crime free after serving time in prison. The purpose of this research study was to examine the factors that played a significant role in recidivism.

Prisoner reentry is becomingly increasingly recognised as a significant societal problem. Almost all prisoners will be released will reenter the community and many will reoffend. Internationally, imprisonment rates continue to rise, compounding the challenge to the criminal justice system that the current system of incarceration and reentry creates. Gaps remain in our understanding of the reentry process and the challenges faced by released prisoners. Previous reentry research has tended to focus on specific issues such as accommodation or employment or have used prisoner interviews as the data source. The gaps in reentry literature are compounded by conflicting definitions of 'successful' reentry. Research was undertaken to examine the definition of 'successful reentry' and to determine the most important variables deemed to affect successful prisoner reentry. Semi structured interviews were conducted with twenty-four stakeholders with a variety of roles in prisoner reentry in Western Australia. Additional data was collected from published government reports, policy documents, research reports and academic literature. The interview findings determined that accommodation, employment, social networks and education and treatment programs were deemed to have the most significant impact on prisoner reentry. One of the most significant findings to emerge is the significance of social networks. This study has found evidence that the value of social networks has been neglected in reentry policy. One of the core issues examined throughout this process was the definition of 'successful reentry'. The term 'successful reentry' requires clarification, alongside elucidation of related goals and measurements. Measures of reentry 'success' need to be developed further or ameliorated by additional criterion as successful reentry is a more complex problem than existing recidivism measures can address. This thesis challenges the existing understanding of the needs of prisoners reentering the community and suggests strategies for improving the reentry process and related outcomes. Future reentry policy needs to give greater weight to the value of social networks and establish mechanisms to facilitate the development and maintenance of these networks, which will in turn, assist prisoners to secure accommodation and employment opportunities.

This study examined the effects of the spiritual component of rehabilitation on female inmates who were in custody during 2002 at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility (LDSCF) and how church attendance relates to recidivism.