Looking Back to Move Forward: A Life-Course Examination of Trauma and Desistance.

• In Event: Partners in Crime: Qualitative Methods in Life Course Criminological Research

Abstract

Research on trauma and identity notes that traumas with a high centrality to self are more likely to lead to poor outcomes (e.g., PTSD). The centrality of a trauma refers to the extent to which the traumatic event has been incorporated into a person's sense of self. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are sources of stress that children may suffer growing up. ACEs are interesting to think about in this context because they often occur before or during a person’s initial attempts to develop an identity. Thus, the raw material they have to develop a sense of self includes trauma and victimization. Narrative scholars have noted that desisters use redemptive suffering scripts to repurpose past negative experiences within their current positive self-conceptions. However, this work has typically focused on negative events within a person’s criminal career (e.g., shame from drug addiction). Less focus has been paid to how desisters specifically repurpose childhood traumas within their redemptive narratives. This article examines the life-story narratives of 43 Black and white desisters to better understand the role that trauma and race play in the desistance process.

Author

• CJ Eugene Appleton, Duke University