Contextual Effects on Desistance from Crime

• In Event: Structure, Context, and Choice: Advancing Life-Course Criminology

Abstract

Salient life events tend to promote desistance from crime. Yet, there is significant variation in this effect. For instance, marriage is linked to desistance for many, but not all (Laub and Sampson 2003) with the strongest effects found when the quality of the marriage is high (Laub, Nagin, and Sampson 1998), the marriage is to a non-criminal spouse (van Schellen, Apel, and Nieuwbeerta 2012), a non-criminal family (Hassan, Kirk, and Andersen 2022), or to someone with a higher socioeconomic status (Widdowson, Hay, and Siennick 2021). According to the life course perspective, variation in the turning point potential of salient life events is due, in part, to the contexts in which individuals reside and the opportunities and constraints therein (Elder et al., 2003). Stated simply, the potential of life events to function as turning points is contingent upon social context. This research adds to the current understanding of individual change and how situational factors promote or hinder the process of desisting from offending. We use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 data set supplemented with the restricted geographic contextual files (zip code and census tract indicators) to measure residential histories and examine if variation in the effect of marriage on desistance may be explained in part by the contexts in which individuals reside. Findings from this research hold the potential to advance understanding of the conditions and contexts in which life events matter.

Authors

• Bianca Bersani, University of Maryland

• Michael Jacob Lebron, University of Maryland