The grounded theory method is used to generate a theory of leaving crime (“going straight”)
from 24 women and men who were interviewed for this study. The main concern for ex-offenders
is the degree to which residuals of a stigmatized, past self can be transcended. This
residual self is comprised of three interrelated phenomena: i) the visible evidence pointing to a
disreputable past, ii) the remnants of disreputable character traits, thinking patterns and
emotional states which persist into the present, and iii) the social interactions which stigmatize
ex-offenders.
Ten of the research respondents are “hardcore” ex-offenders because their former immersion
in criminal identities left residuals that are more apparent or knowable to others. The other 14
have criminal identities that were transient, or limited in time and the extent to which they
subscribed to criminal values. For both types of offenders, a self-crisis preceded the decision to
go straight. Ex-offenders import an exculpatory conversation from helping others that interprets
their past harms as the result of the disease of addiction, early childhood trauma, or as lives
unfolding within some greater plan by God or fortune. Hardcore offenders seek enveloping
forms of help which occupy their ongoing daily consciousness and routines, whereas transient
criminal offenders use help for transitory and pragmatic ends. The more that a past, residual self
is knowable to others and subjectively problematic, the greater the difficulty that ex-offenders
will have negotiating their stigmatized identity. An ongoing process of interpreting and
negotiating one’s identity with self and others lies at the core of going straight.
The outcome of going straight is credentials which consist of clean time, official pardons for
criminal records, amends made with others or society in general, the performance of good works,
and most importantly, making distinctions between who I was and who I am. The self presented
today is an authentic one, unlike the criminal identity which they now see in retrospect as
inauthentic. The degree to which a residual self remains with ex-offenders varies, with hardcore
ex-offenders more likely to show or report signs and traits which can be stigmatized by
evaluative audiences. However, it is also apparent that the residual self can be used for pragmatic
and credentializing purposes, especially when one’s current identity is linked to who one was in
the past. The problem of the residual self is differentially negotiated through culturally endorsed
narratives of reform. To the degree that ex-offenders discriminate who I was from who I am in
familiar stories of change, the greater will be their success in resolving the problems of the
residual self.
The theory of the residual self fits with recent findings in developmental theories in
criminology, and offers optimism about the possibilities for change in adulthood criminal
pathways suggested by life-course theories. This study, and others like it, can help promote a
wider discourse to counter the “once a con, always a con” thinking which stigmatizes ex-offenders. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/10260 |
| Date | 05 November 2018 |
| Creators | Anderson, John Frederick |
| Contributors | Hackler, James C., Hatt, Ken |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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