Showing papers by "Anthony Bottoms published in 2011"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report findings concerning the social and moral values of a sample of recidivist offenders at the start of this age-range, finding that most reported surprisingly conformist values, for example with regard to future aspirations (employment, housing, etc.) and the importance of staying within legal boundaries.
Abstract: Within the human life-span, the decade of the 20s (age 20—29) is known to manifest the fastest deceleration of offending. This article reports findings concerning the social and moral values of a sample of recidivist offenders at the start of this age-range. Most reported surprisingly conformist values, for example with regard to future aspirations (employment, housing, etc.) and to the importance of staying within legal boundaries. Nevertheless, longitudinal data showed that these conformist values often did not prevent some continued offending (though within the sample, taking steps towards desistance was associated with more conformist values). This dissonance between values and behaviour was not explained by neutralizations, but rather (1) by complex processes of maturation, in which intentions to ‘go straight’ co-exist with lapses into learned (habitual) criminal responses; and (2) by the spontaneous character of much offending, with for example invitations to offend by criminal friends being common....
138 citations