P059 - Learning criminal competence and lucrative criminal activities

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Criminological research has identified multiple risk and protective factors that influence recidivism, but struggles to explain how individuals initially learn how to commit crime, and how they desist.

‘Skilled’ criminals are thought to have more success in lucrative criminality, and thus desist later, than other offenders (1). Criminal competence has therefore been mentioned in literature for almost a century and is thought to be relevant for the study of crime (2). However, it is difficult to find studies that focus directly on criminal competence. Researchers generally use several concepts as proxies for studying competence: professionalism, criminal capital, criminal success or achievement, criminal self-efficacy, etc. (3). They are often operationalized for data originating from official sources (police, justice) or inmates (or former inmates) interviews. These indicators can have moderate success explaining the criminal phenomenon, as they tend to confuse criminal activities, criminal skills, and the process of learning these activities and skills, resulting in a loss of sensitivity to their evolution over time.

The current research project aims to distinguish between these concepts both theoretically and empirically. Using interviews conducted directly with active, non-judicialized offenders, we retrospectively study lucrative criminal activities and competence at different points in time, as well as their learning process, paying attention to the meaning they give it from their subjective point of view.

1 (Loughran et al., 2012)
2 (Sutherland, 1937)
3 (Nguyen, 2020 ; McCarthy & Hagan, 2001 ; Brezina & Molinet, 2022)

Authors

• Marie Guellec, Université de Montréal, Université de Lille, private practice

• Stéphane Rusinek, Université de Lille, Laboratoire PSITEC

• Frédéric Ouellet, School of criminology, Université de Montréal