NCJ Number
99902
Date Published
1985
Length
172 pages
Annotation
Interviews were conducted with 50 male ex-convicts over age 50 to examine social and psychological factors that may contribute to decreasing criminal involvement with increasing age.
Abstract
Most of these subjects began their criminal involvement in adolescence, and all committed property offenses; 36 could be typed as unsuccessful criminals in that they viewed crime as a means of livelihood but actually had small financial reward and were frequently incarcerated. A majority of these men experienced a process of stock-taking, usually in their thirties and forties, that led to a transformation of orientational contingencies. This transformation usally involved the realization that crime was an unproductive enterprise, new perspectives on the self, growing awareness of time, changing aspirations and goals, and a growing sense of tiredness. Changes with age in the values they ascribed to intimate relations with others and to employment also contributed to lessening criminal involvement over time. These changes, cumulatively, resulted in changes in the decisionmaking processes that precede crime: benefits were seen as illusory or less important, and perceived risks and losses increased. Further, with successful performance of nondeviant roles and the passage of time, the salience of the ex-convict personal identity decreased and presented few interactional difficulties for these men. Case studies and extensive quotations illustrate these changes. An index and approximately 130 references are included.