Table Of ContentJohn A. Humphrey · Peter Cordella
E ditors
Eff ective
Interventions
in the Lives
of Criminal
Off enders
E ffective Interventions in the Lives
of Criminal Offenders
J ohn A. H umphrey • P eter C ordella
E ditors
E ffective Interventions in the
Lives of Criminal Offenders
E ditors
J ohn A. H umphrey P eter C ordella
C riminal Justice Department C riminal Justice Department
Saint Anselm College S aint Anselm College
M anchester, N H, U SA M anchester, N H, U SA
I SBN 978-1-4614-8929-0 ISBN 978-1-4614-8930-6 (eBook)
D OI 10.1007/978-1-4614-8930-6
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P refa ce
T he trajectory of criminal justice is untenable. American society is marred by the
highest incarceration rate in the world (International Centre for Prison Studies
2013). More than 1.6 million persons are incarcerated on any given day in state and
federal prisons across the USA (Carson and Sabol 2012). One in 31 people is under
correctional supervision—that is, persons in prison or jail, on probation or parole
(Pew Center on the States 2009).
T here is scant evidence that involvement with the criminal justice system is a
deterrent to further criminal activity. About four in ten criminal offenders are rear-
rested, reconvicted, and re-incarcerated within three years of their release from
prison (Pew Center on the States 2011). Over 70 % of adults who are rearrested
were previously incarcerated in the USA for robbery, burglary, larceny, including
motor vehicle theft, and possession of stolen property or illegal weapons (Langan
and Levin 2002).
I ntervention in the lives of criminal offenders is critical to the viability of the
criminal justice system. Persistently high rates of offender recidivism undermine
trust in our efforts to alter the lives of criminal offenders. The economic conse-
quences are dire: political responses are often driven more by a sense of urgency
than by empirically supported strategies for crime desistance.
Y et, criminal offenders often engage in the process of desisting from licit activ-
ity. An understanding of the sociopsychological mechanisms that underlie desis-
tance is critical to the future of the criminal justice system.
T his book draws together the most current thinking of leading scholars in the
fi eld of interventions in the lives of criminal offenders. More specifi cally, we are
concerned with interventions across the life course that result in the decision to
desist from further criminal activity.
M anchester, NH, USA John A . H umphrey
Peter C ordella
v
T heoretical Foundation
S ampson and Laub (2003, 2005) and Laub and Sampson (2003) provide a theoreti-
cal understanding of the effectiveness of interventions in the lives of offenders and
their decision to alter their criminal behavior. Central to their life-course perspec-
tive is their conceptualization of turning points in the lives of criminal offenders.
They hold that turning points are not static events, but dynamic “repeating in
nature”—that is, they have the potential to reverberate across the life course. For
example, their analysis of marriage as a turning point leads them to the conclusion
that: “marriage is not a singular turning point but a potential causal factor in desis-
tance that operates as a dynamic, time varying process through time” (Sampson
and Laub 2005:36).
S ampson and Laub (2003, 2005) posit that an understanding of turning points
must include a consideration of social location —the positioning of an individual
in social structural space; and human agency— the conscious decision to engage
in or desist from an action. Sampson and Laub (2005:34) have identifi ed fi ve crite-
ria for the assessment of turning points:
• ‘ A “knifi ng off” of the past from the present’.
• “ Opportunities for investment in new relationships that offer social support,
growth, and new social networks.”
• “ Direct and indirect supervision and monitoring of behavior.”
• “ Structured rather than unstructured routines.”
• “ Situations that provide an opportunity for identity transformation and that allow
for the emergence of a new self or script.”
A n analysis of turning points then must consider what Laub and Sampson (2003)
refer to as a “situated choice.” That is, “individual action needs to align with the
social structure to produce behavioral change and to maintain change (or stability)
over the life course” (Sampson and Laub 2005:43). And, they conclude by arguing
that neither human agency nor structural location can itself explain the process of
criminal desistance.
vii
O rganization of the Book
F ollowing the life-course perspective set forth by Sampson and Laub, the chapters
in this book are organized in four parts: (1) social location, (2) human agency, (3)
situated choice, and (4) cross-cultural perspective.
I n Part 1—social location—Byron Johnson provides a systematic review of the
protective, prosocial, and individual advantages of religious participation for desis-
tance from criminal activity. Involvement in religious practices is shown to reduce
criminal behavior, positively affect offender treatment and rehabilitation outcomes,
and facilitate the offender’s re-entry into the community. In addition, the social
context of the impact of religious involvement on criminal activity is analyzed.
Among other factors religiosity is found to promote prosocial and individually
meaningful behavior and thereby reduce the likelihood of criminal behavior.
A lso in Part 1, Jessica Craig, Brie Diamond, and Alex Piquero consider the
impact of marriage on the desistance process. They critically analyze the empirical
literature on the “marriage effect,” including a consideration of variations by gen-
der. Three theoretical frameworks—control, learning, and cognitive transforma-
tion—are found to account for the marriage-desistance link. The limitations of
marriage as a viable intervention strategy are reviewed. Avenues for further research
are also set forth.
P art 2—human agency—includes two chapters on identity and criminal desis-
tance. In the fi rst chapter, Peggy Giordano provides an in-depth analysis of longitu-
dinal data on female and male adolescent offenders. A symbolic interactionist
perspective provides the basis for a provisional theory of “cognitive transforma-
tion.” This theoretical formulation largely complements control theory with three
unique contributions: (1) it specifi es the mechanism underlying change; (2) explains
unaccounted for negative cases in control theory; (3) and “seems to have a particu-
larly good fi t with the life course challenges facing contemporary serious female
(and more provisionally) male offenders.” Four types of cognitive transformations
are identifi ed: (1) o penness to change; (2) o penness to a particular hook or set of
hooks for change (a hook refers to a catalyst for change); (3) adopting a n ew iden-
tity; (4) transformation in the view of the offender’s deviant behavior and deviant
ix
