Social structures and desistance from crime

Abstract

Desistance studies have routinely focused on issues such as family links, employment prospects and moving away from criminal friends, but they have said less about the meso- and macro-level structural issues that might facilitate or impede the transition of ex-offenders to the status of more mainstream members of civil society.Yet, in view of the necessary interaction between agency and structure in producing processes of desistance, a consideration of social structures (and the implications of changes in structures) is clearly of some importance. This paper addresses these issues, with special reference to recent structural changes in the UK in the fields of employment, families and housing, and criminal policy. The paper concludes with a discussion of conceptual foundations for social policy responses.

Involvement in Crime, Individual Resources and Structural Constraints: Processes of Cumulative (Dis)Advantage in a Stockholm Birth Cohort

“…At the same time however, the constraints of history and social circumstance are also important. We believe, together with for example Farrall et al (2010), that criminology is suffering from a shortage of studies that delve more deeply into this central insight. There are, of course, important exceptions to this individual-oriented myopia in criminology.…”

Turning points and returning points: Understanding the role of family ties in the process of desistance

“…Probably, the idea that parents have the moral obligation to provide for the needs their sons and daughters, even when they become adults, may imply that its role as a source of engaging offenders in their moral reflection on the need to change in return for the support provided may be more powerful than in other contexts in which the role of the family as 'perpetual provider' may be less prevalent (Martinez and Abrams 2011). The more or less relevance of the family in different contexts give credit to the theorist that require to take into account structural factors of desistance (Farrall et al 2010).…”

Dilemmas in applying strengths-based approaches in working with offenders with mental illness: A critical multidisciplinary review

“…Fundamentally, what becomes clear from desistance research is that only focusing on individual and social network strengths and capacities does not suffice. In the desistance research and literature emphasis is put on the -structural barriers toopportunities to exercise capacities (McNeill, 2006;Farrall, Shapland & Bottoms, 2010). It is not because a person wants to change and to desist that he or she will succeed.…”