NCJ Number
178118
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 32 Issue: 2 Dated: 1998 Pages: 339-366
Date Published
1998
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether there are gender differences in the predictors of both self-reported illegal earnings and arrest among samples of recently released male and female offenders.
Abstract
The study builds on desistance research by explicitly addressing gender differences in crime cessation. The analysis of gender differences provides a setting that illustrates how both the behavior of the offender and the behavior of law shape understanding of the transition out of crime. The study examines separate models that contrast two theoretical perspectives: a motivation model that incorporates aspects of rational choice, social control, and opportunity theories to explain behavioral desistance; and a theory-of-law model that attempts to hold individual behavior constant and seeks to explain official desistance based on the social statuses of individuals. The findings suggest that there are far fewer gender differences in the factors that predict a person's ability to refrain from subsequent offending than might be expected based on recidivism data and gender stereotypes. Generally, the same types of controls and opportunities serve to inhibit economic crimes among both men and women. The authors suspect that the gender differences observed in the illegal earnings model are related to more subtle distinctions in the situational contingencies of men's and women's lives. Indicators of normative status, as opposed to the perceived risks of crime or age-graded informal controls, are particularly important determinants of women's risks of rearrest. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 95 references