Moving to (Perceived) Opportunity: How residential change shapes desistance from crime

• In Event: How Context Matters in the Life Course: Racial Composition, Collective Efficacy, and Life Transitions

Abstract

Desistance scholarship is increasingly drawing attention to the life course principle of ‘historical time and place’ to understand variation in offending. This principle emphasizes how context structures and differentiates life course trajectories. Whereas research has increasingly focused on the role of sociohistorical context in the life course, comparatively less has focused on place and how local context may alter life course trajectories. A small body of research has found that residential relocation can function as a turning point in the life course and facilitate desistance from crime, yet we lack understanding of the processes by which moving matters. Often, research implicates the role of changing situations that facilitate offending such as altering an individual’s social network and routine activities. However, moving may promote desistance by altering perceptions of criminogenic or conventional opportunities. This paper uses data from the Pathways to Desistance study to investigate how opportunities and perceptions change alongside moving and what role these changes may have on offending trajectories. The findings offer insight into the mechanisms underlying the residential mobility and offending relationship, focusing on the role of situational and perceptual changes.

Authors

• Bianca Bersani, University of Maryland

• Casey Kindall, University of Maryland

• Kyle Thomas, University of Colorado Boulder