Within-Individual Change in Arrests in a Sample of Serious Offenders: The Role of Identity

Abstract

Objective Paternoster and Bushway (2009) have recently proposed and developed Paternoster 2012, 2013) an identity theory of desistance (ITD). The current study is an initial attempt to empirically examine the tenability of the ITD by assessing whether self-identity and intentional self-change are critically involved in the desistance process among a sample of serious drug-involved adult criminal offenders. Methods Using arrest data from a sample of released prison inmates with non-trivial drug problems and a modified version of conventional random-effects model, we examine the role of a good or favorable identity and pro-social "agentic moves" (Giordano et al. 2002) in period-to period changes in drug use and arrest from the early 1990s until 2008. Results The effect of good identity on self-reported drug use remained significant even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and other theoretically relevant covariates, whereas its effect on arrest became weaker and statistically non-significant when these covariates were simultaneously considered. Conclusions While we find only partial support for the ITD, we hope our initial effort to assess the feasibility of the ITD can facilitate further theoretical sophistication and tests of a number of other interesting hypotheses that can address many questions left unanswered in the existing desistance literature.

Prosocial Identities and Youth Violence

“…This finding mirrors the self-identity literature which posits that those who view themselves as prosocial are less likely to engage in antisocial behaviors than those who view themselves as deviant (Akerlof and Kranton 2010;Brownfield and Thompson 2005;Burke 1980;Burke and Stets 2011;Foote 1951). Nonetheless, this study adds to the desistance literature by expanding the scope of self-identity theories to account for the process of within-individual changes in misbehavior not just among adult offenders (e.g., Na et al 2015;Rocque, Posick, and Paternoster 2016) but also among the general youth population who did engage in violent behavior and are at risk of desistance. In model 3, we added some important time-varying covariates and time-stable characteristics to further minimize the selection bias that might yield an overestimated coefficient for the true relationship between prosocial identity and violence.…”

Desistance from Crime and Identity

“…Using longitudinal data (the Rutgers Health and Human Development Project) and growth-curve models, Rocque, Posick, and Paternoster (2014) found that even net of a cluster of control variables, a favorable improvement in one's identity over time was related to a decline in offending. Most recently, Na, Paternoster, and Bachman (2015) using the same longitudinal data as the present study have estimated a growth-curve model, and found that offenders released from prison who became more favorable in their self-image over time and who took concrete steps to get help with their drug problem showed signs of moving toward desistance as reflected in period-to-period changes in both arrest and self-reported drug use. While there has yet to be a definitive quantitative study of identity change over time and desistance from crime, these few empirical efforts seem to indicate that one's identity is an important component of the desistance process.…”

House, bells and bliss? A longitudinal analysis of conventional aspirations and the process of desistance

“…However, others have offered evidence that it is possible to disengage from offending without the internalisation of a non-offender identity (Nugent and Schinkel, 2016), and that persisters may continue offending despite a positive, prosocial identity and conformist values (Bottoms and Shapland, 2011;Liem and Richardson, 2014). A few longitudinal studies have found empirical support for the idea that a prosocial identity is associated with a decreased likelihood of future offending (Bachman, Kerrison, Paternoster, O'Connell and Smith, 2016;Bottoms and Shapland, 2011;LeBel et al, 2008;Na, Paternoster and Bachman, 2015;Rocque, Posick and Paternoster, 2016;Walters, 2018). What distinguishes successful desisters from persisters may be related to confidence in their ability to go straight and commitment to desistance, or a sense of agency (Burnett, 2013;Liem and Richardson, 2014; see also Farrall, 2002).…”

“…Qualitative studies tend to approach identity inductively (what emerges from participants’ narratives) and holistically in relation to how participants see themselves, including goals, values, self-worth and roles. Quantitative studies deductively operationalise identity and tend to focus on one element, such as a sense of self-worth (Na et al, 2015) or the extent to which participants see themselves as prosocial (Bachman et al, 2016).…”