“That’s Not Who I Am:” How Offenders Commit Violent Acts and Reject Authentically Violent Selves

Abstract

Participation in contemporary street cultures often exposes individuals to a world characterized by violence. The participants in this study admitted to frequent experience with violence and regular use of it. Many viewed violence as an appropriate response to some situations, though they often worked to avoid negative connotations of such behavior, especially ascriptions of an “authentically” violent self. Using an interactionist framework, we explore the processes by which offenders who engage in violent crimes resist being labeled as authentically violent. Drawing from data from semi‐structured interviews with 30 offenders who engaged in carjackings, we analyze contrastive statements they employed to resist a violent self‐concept and label. Offenders differentiated their own violent behaviors, as situational and excusable, from behaviors that characterize authentically violent others. Understanding these processes sheds light on criminal identities and gives insights into attempts to change offender behavior by altering self‐conceptions.

Keywords:

• identity
• authenticity
• violence
• cognitive rehabilitation
• interactionism

Notes

1. Asking participants about how they see themselves and how others see them is a common interview technique in research using an interactionist and/or identity construction frameworks (e.g., Athens, 1997; Presser, 2008). We, like others, have found that the direct questions are useful in providing a starting point for participants to elaborate on their thoughts and perceptions. It is the explanation of their responses that provides valuable identity‐related data and not simply their initial yes or no response, which is of little analytical value. Even those who openly admit to being violent almost inevitably explain in what senses of the word they can be considered so.

2. This level of restraint does not appear to be granted when the motive is revenge or retaliation (Jacobs & Wright, 2006).