The Role of Social Context and Substance Use in Altering Decisions to Offend Across the Life-Course

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Extant research indicates that “hot” factors, such as substance use or peers, can exert a pull towards delinquency in adolescence and can contribute to a continuation in offending in adulthood. Understanding how these factors operate to either disrupt offending trajectories or embolden offending across time holds important implications for theory and policy alike. In this panel, we assess the role of timing, within-individual change, and life-course transitions in altering decision-making and offending. Specifically, the presentations use longitudinal data to examine 1) how substance use influences the likelihood and timing of experiencing turning points that disrupt offending trajectories, 2) the role of changes to one’s own substance use and that of peers in altering perceptions of the risks and rewards of offending, and 3) whether thoughtfully reflective decision-making strategies can indirectly reduce crime through promoting prosocial changes to one’s social network and activities.

Sub Unit

• Area II. Perspectives on Crime / 2. Developmental and Life Course Perspectives

Individual Presentations

• The Influence of Substance Use and Dependence on the Process of Desistance from Crime among Serious Offenders - Luke Novack, University of Colorado Boulder

• Associations Between Substance Use and Perceptions of Risks and Rewards of Offending: A Within-Individuals Analysis - Anna Newell, Pennsylvania State University; Yu Du, North Carolina A&T State University; Holly Nguyen, Pennsylvania State University

• The Impact of Thoughtfully-Reflective Decisions on Social Contexts and Delinquency - Jessica Deitzer, University of Nebraska Omaha

Chair

• Jessica Deitzer, University of Nebraska Omaha

Discussant

• Kyle Thomas, University of Colorado Boulder