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The following analysis examines how within-conference variation affects long-term outcomes, specifically reoffending. In particular, I focus on the emotional, micro-dynamics of interaction, as outlined in Collins' (2004) Microsociological theory of Interaction Ritual Chains. Using multivariate analysis from a large dataset of observed restorative justice conference as well as in depth discourse analysis of specific interactions, I argue that rhythmic entrainment and conversational balance lead to high-solidarity conference, which may influence offending rates post conference. The results speak both to the burgeoning field of the criminology of emotions, as well as theory and research in restorative justice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this appreciative collaborative inquiry 11 of 30 female repeat felons enrolled in a Northern California drug court were given a voice to talk about the strengths of the court and the key persons who had helped them. Empowered as change agents, these women looked at present and past experiences to assess their program, and envision future drug court program innovations. From these women's perspective, the strongest component of drug court was being surrounded by caring staff who were concerned with their progress and recovery. Intensive graduated supervision and accurate drug testing were appreciated rather than resented as long as the participants were not humiliated and were treated with respect. Wrap-around services, resources and referral, treatment facilities that accepted children, and individualized treatment plan and therapy with offenders who are ex-addicts, and preferably females, allowed for greater involvement and active participation in recovery. Progressing through three phases, acquiring skills, a job, and visitation rights to see their children, or regaining custody, increased these women's sense of self-efficacy perception and confidence in their ability to lead a drug-free meaningful life. Findings also show the importance of qualitative criteria in evaluating drug court participants' progress and the process of recovery. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the contributions made by the Situational Action Theory to the explanation of persistence and desistance in offending against a backdrop of the contributions made by other contemporary theories, including Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory, Moffitt's Dual Developmental Taxonomy and Sampson and Laub's Age-graded Theory of Informal Social Control, and discusses how the Situational Action Theory may address gaps and shortcomings in their explanations of change and stability in offending. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Routine activities theory suggests six points of intervention for any crime problem: targets/victims, guardians, places, managers, offenders, and handlers. A great deal of research has been dedicated to understanding what makes targets attractive and how guardians can protect targets. There is a growing body of research on what makes certain places suitable for crime and how managers can prevent crimes at places. There is less research within this theoretical tradition on the handler-offender relationship, the willingness of handlers to take control, and the effectiveness of such control in preventing crime. Theoretical examples of handling in the literature often describe prosocial adult handlers controlling the minor offenses of children and adolescents. This raises questions as to whether such handlers exist for more serious offenders, and if so, whether they can be engaged to prevent crime. Using an example of serious repeat violent offending, we argue that handlers are a viable preventive option that can be leveraged to prevent even the most serious of crimes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research will discuss reentry and the success stories: former prisoners who have achieved "success," and yet still find themselves at risk of recidivism. Implications for the field will be explored. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to assess the recidivism patterns of 60 females who were registered as juvenile sex offenders in Texas in 2001. The analyses assess general, assaultive, and sexual recidivism rates of these juveniles during their adulthood. According to developmental theory, those who begin offending early are more likely to continue such behavior; others, however, assume the behavior is part of "normal" deviance and will desist. These juveniles are assessed several years after they enter adulthood to test these hypotheses. Also, factors relating to recidivism are also assessed through a survival analysis. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York City's drug treatment programs for substance-abusing offenders have been operating for well over a decade. In 1990, the Kings (Brooklyn) County District Attorney initiated the City's first such program - Drug Treatment Alternative-to Prison (DTAP) - which targets repeat felony offenders. By 1993 three other New York City district attorneys' offices - Bronx, New York (Manhattan), and Queens - had implemented DTAP or DTAP-like programs for such offenders. The Richmond (Staten Island) District Attorney's DTAP program was implemented in 1999. These programs have evolved independently of each other. Thus, they differ somewhat with respect to program eligibility criteria, process, and structure. Empirical case-level studies of program effectiveness have been sporadic and not inclusive of all DTAP programs. In 2004, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services undertook a retrospective study of DTAP programs in all five counties. The study's purpose is to broaden understanding of how organizational and procedural factors, as well as offender characteristics and criminal history, influenced the likelihood of diversion to treatment, treatment outcomes, and recidivism. Findings will be used to develop a risk-assessment instrument to help guide the identification of offenders suitable for diversion to DTAP programs. Highlights of study findings will be presented. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do criminal careers of children of serious recidivists differ from children of law-abiding citizens? What is the effect of death or the imprisonment of a parent on the criminal careers of children? And what role does divorce play?Earlier research reports a substantial influence of convictions of parents on the criminal behaviour of their offspring. Results of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (Farrington & West, 1998) for example show a correlation of .43 between the criminal behaviour of fathers and their sons. Previous research however neglects questions about the influence of the behaviour of parents over the life span of their children. Also, questions about the relative importance of criminal behaviour, divorce and imprisonment are yet to be answered. Finally, datasets used are relatively small and of limited time span.Therefore, we investigate the influence of parental criminal behaviour, imprisonment, divorce and death on the criminal careers of their children. We analyse data from the Criminal Career and Life Course Study (CCLS), which is a large longitudinal Dutch dataset with judicial information and population registration data of approximately 3,500 fathers and their 7,500 children. Children from the age of 12 until the age of 40 are followed, which allows us to analyse the influences of parents over a long period of time. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of domestic violence reports to the police this study focuses on the recidivist offending and repeat victimization of cases processed through a specialized DVunit compared with cases handled by regular patrol. The study controls for the fact that the DV Unit handles more serious charges and prior involvement in prior domestic violence incidents. The prevalence, incidence and severity of future events is studied and policy implications are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, criminological theories have relied on either strictly macro- or micro-level variables in their explanations of criminal behavior. More recently, theorists have proposed the macro-micro integration of theoretical perspectives. For example, recent work by Agnew (2006, 2005), Akers (1998), and Sampson and Laub (1993; Laub and Sampson, 2003) have included propositions that implicate the need for cross-level theoretical models. In particular, Agnew (2005) points to the individual level life domains of self (i.e., personality traits and low self-control), family, school, peers, and work as explanatory factors in criminal behavior over the life course. Additionally, community level factors, including socioeconomic status and the function of social institutions, may influence criminal behavior through their impact on these life domains. For example, economic forces and the structure of social institutions may impact parenting factors (e.g., supervision and bonding), which then impact delinquency. The primary goal of the current study is to explore some of Agnew's (2006, 2005) propositions with a longitudinal hierarchical dataset that contains three levels of data; time periods nested within individuals, nested within census tracts. Analyses will utilize Hierarchical Linear Modeling strategies to explore the impact of social institutions on individual-level social bonds and criminal behavior over the life course. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through analyzing the Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994: United States dataset, this study examines the survival time distribution of recidivists for different types of offenses by the type of release from prison. The relationships between demographic factors, crime history, and the severity of punishment and the hazard of recidivism are examined and compared for different types of releases. Findings indicate the hazard of rearrest is higher for unconditionally released inmates than the risk of rearrest for conditionally released inmates. While gender and types of offenses attribute to differences in conditionally released inmates, they are not associated with the differences of rearrest rates in unconditionally released inmates. The severity of punishment measured by sentence length is significantly related to the hazard of recidivism; however, other two measures of severity of punishment--time served and the percentage of sentence served before release are not associated with the hazard of recidivism for both conditionally and unconditionally released inmates. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an information-theoretic framework developed to aid researchers, analysts, and practitioners in utilizing dated criminal history information, when such information is available, to investigate whether, and to what extent, incarceration is able to deter offenders from future offending. The methodology builds on two traditions. It uses concepts common to information theory and event history analysis. When combined, the resulting framework allows analysts (i) to estimate individual-specific offending micro-trajectories; (ii) to project counterfactual trajectories (i.e., trace out the offending trajectory for each individual had (s)he not been incarcerated); and (iii) to assess the actual post-release offending patterns against the backdrop of these counterfactuals. The information-theoretic underpinnings of the framework also help quantify the extent of deviation between the counterfactual and actual micro-trajectories for each individual. This composite statistic allows one to classify individuals' incarceration as having had a deterrent, an incapacitative or a criminogenic effect on them depending on whether the post-release trajectory was deemed lower, about the same, or higher (respectively) than the counterfactual. Findings suggest that most released prisoners either had a deterrent (40%) or an incapacitative (56%) effect as a result of their incarceration. About 4% had a criminogenic effect. Regression analysis performed to investigate the correlates of these experiences suggest that being later in the offending sequence exerts an upward pressure on the risk path (trajectory) relative to what was anticipated and, all else being equal, being closer to prior offending activity exerts a downward pressure on the trajectory relative to the counterfactual. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the criminal career and life-course literature, little attention has been given to the onset of criminal careers during adulthood and factors influencing the onset of adult female criminal careers in particular. The limited research that has been conducted suggests that factors leading to the criminal behavior of more youthful offenders, typically with disadvantaged backgrounds, may differ significantly than those of older offenders who often have a history of conventional behavior, increased levels of human capital, social capital, and social support. This presentation advocates the theoretical integration of general strain, social support, and social capital theories to better explain adult onset, especially that of female offenders. Preliminary results that test this perspective will be presented. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theoretical and empirical literature in criminology suggests that strain, social control and social support are all associated with offending. What is unclear is the nature of their role in the development of persistent offending. In the present paper we will discuss the logic regarding the role that strain, social control and social support might play in the long-term dynamics of persistent offending and present some analyses related to this issue. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the development of criminal careers and concentrates on types of activity rather than - as typically done - the amounts of activity over the life course. Based on different theories featuring in the current developmental and life course criminology, we deduce distinct hypotheses on the patterns and pathways of criminal behavior over the life course. The hypotheses especially pertain to the level and direction of specialization, versatility and escalation of long term criminal careers. To test our hypotheses, we use longitudinal data on individual offender's criminal careers from the Dutch 'Criminal Career and Life-course Study (CCLS), containing information on long term individual criminal offending careers (i.e. over 60 years), full imprisonment careers and the occurrence and timing of various other life circumstances (marriage, children, death). These data were retrieved for a 4% (N=4615) sample of all individuals whose criminal case was irrevocably disposed of in the Netherlands in 1977. The methodology involves investigating criminal activity in a succession of five-year periods. A latent class analysis is used to identify a fixed number of types of criminal behavior in these periods. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Criminology has always included age as a variable in crime and deviance and has long been interested in careers in crime and career criminals. Over the past two decades these issues have become encapsulated in life course criminology. The rapidly expanding literature in life course criminology has been spurred in part as a reaction to self-control theorists' argument that there is no explanation for age variations, critiques of longitudinal studies and, in part, by the effort to improve on the way in which we understand issues of age, development, and changes in crime over time. Whatever its genesis, life course criminology has clearly assumed a central place in criminology. By focusing on age variations, careers, and trajectories in criminal and deviant behavior it has done for age what Marxist and conflict approaches have done for class and race and feminist approaches have done for gender. This has been important and worthwhile for criminological studies and research and has spurred efforts at theoretical integration, but has life course criminology introduced any new theory or explanatory variables for crime and deviance that goes beyond extant theory? This question is explored, and the central claim in the paper is that extant general theory, especially social learning theory, is capable of accounting for differences in crime by age and the trajectories and patterns of criminal and deviant behavior over the life course. I do not expect this claim to be controversial because social learning variables and explanations are already common, but often unacknowledged, in life course criminology. The paper is based on and develops further my previous work on this issue. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inter-relationships between serious types of crime have been neglected. Focusing on all those convicted of arson (n=46,144), blackmail (n=5,854), kidnapping (n=7,474) and threats to kill (n=9,976) between 1979 and 2001 in England and Wales, it is clear that offenders are more likely to be convicted of the same offence again rather than one of the other serious offences (including rape and homicide) being considered. Hence, there is evidence of specialisation among serious offenders. These four serious offences (arson, blackmail, kidnapping and homicide) have similar rates of subsequent homicide (0.6%) which is considerably higher than the general population where around 1 in 3000 males might be expected to be convicted of homicide over a twenty-year follow-up period. However, the speed of the subsequent homicide varies between the four offences, suggesting that there are different relationships between the defining offence and the subsequent homicide. Examining those convicted of two or more of these serious offences is of particular interest as these involve both specialists and generalists. The differences between the groups will be probed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to provide an overview of methodological issues related to the study of persistence in criminal careers. In doing so, the paper will discuss definitional issues associated with studying persistence, the various theoretical accounts of persistence, estimates of persistence, and approaches to studying persistence such as prospective longitudinal designs and the analysis of criminal trajectories. The paper concludes by outlining a modest agenda for future research on persistence in criminal careers. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though more common among males, there is evidence to suggest that a small group of female offenders exhibit chronic offending patterns that begin in childhood and continue well into adulthood. Here we draw from empirical evidence and theoretical propositions to outline the biological, psychological, and social factors implicated in persistent female offending. We also discuss overlap and divergence in the onset and persistence of chronic offending across females and males. In the end, we propose that despite some overlap, gendered variation in the causes and consequences of persistent offending are notable enough to warrant distinct attention to females on the part of scholars and policy makers. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of adjudicated French-Canadian males from the Montreal Two Samples Longitudinal Study, this paper investigates the individual and social characteristics associated with differential cost avoidance and successful criminal careers. The main objective of this study is to determine whether such traits are randomly distributed across differential degrees of cost avoidance, or whether they reflect some degree of rationality. Differential cost avoidance is measured through the ratio of self-reported career length to officially recorded career length, the ratio of self-reported offending gravity to officially recorded gravity, and the ratio of time "free" to periods of incarceration. Findings revealed few significant predictors of the residual degree of differential cost avoidance. Results also show that it is particularly difficult to predict differential cost avoidance at early ages, which suggests the important role of change in individual traits and social circumstances across time. The main predictors of the residual degree of differential cost avoidance in the early thirties include substance use (especially drugs), the accumulation of debts, and the use of violence in the perpetration of crime. The implications of the findings for desistance research are discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task of explaining continuity in criminal activity and careers is central to many major theories of crime. It is most visibly central to social bonding theory, where commitment is seen as a key "stake in conformity." Commitment is also often used in labeling theory, where it is seen as an "investment" that sustains criminal involvement. Despite Howard Becker's call for more systematic and differentiated conceptualizations of commitment, most criminologists still use the term in a simplistic manner. However, different types of commitment can easily be recognized, with different causes and experiences. We argue that a differentiated commitment framework is more useful than a unitary one. We apply a threefold typology that specifies structural, personal, and moral types of commitment as a conceptual tool for grappling with issues of persistence, desistance, or partial desistance in crime across the life course. We call an individual's accumulated and valued interests and allegiances, as represented by his or her structural, moral, or personal commitments, an individual's commitment portfolio. We illustrate the usefulness of the notion of commitment portfolios for explaining continuity and desistance in criminal careers with qualitative data from a lifelong burglary thief and fence who was the subject of the recent book, Confessions of a Dying Thief, and from studies of outlaw bikers and exotic dancers. Furthermore, we argue that commitment portfolios are inherently intertwined with social and cultural capital, and that criminal commitment portfolios help us to understand the acquisition and consequences of criminal social and cultural capital. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the negative relationship between age of first arrest and subsequent criminal career severity is well known, it lacks empirical specificity. Using a population of 500 adult career criminals, descriptive, ordinary least-squares (OLS), and negative binomial regression analyses produced six key findings. Offenders who are first arrested at age fourteen are among the most chronic, versatile, and dangerous offenders and are justifiably the threshold in differentiating early from late starters. Those arrested in middle childhood (age eight or nine) are rare yet accumulate hundreds of career arrests. Persons first arrested at ages sixteen or seventeen are most likely to be convicted of felonies and sentenced to prison. The most violent offenders are persons first arrested at ages fourteen or fifteen. While early onset is undoubtedly important, 25 percent of offenders with extensive criminal careers are not arrested until age twenty-one or older. In sum, these findings add empirical specificity to the theoretical and empirical significance of experiencing an early arrest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has moved beyond examining whether race matters in sentencing decisions to examining contexts and interactions in which race matters. This paper will look at the sentencing of a specific group of offenders: parolees who have been reconvicted. Using a sample of over 12,000 parolees released from prisons in 15 states and later reconvicted, this paper will examine the relationship between an offender's demographic characteristics, prior convictions and sentences, current reconviction offense, and whether the offender was sentenced to incarceration and for how long. Building on the research of Steffensmeier et al. (1998) and Spohn and Holleran (2000), this paper will examine the interaction effects of race, ethnicity, gender, and age on sentencing outcomes in courts across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]