Desistance from crime: reflections on the transitional experiences of young people with a history of offending

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the complexities involved in young people's attempts to move away from criminal activity. This paper draws on qualitative data from a study that aimed to identify how young people negotiate transitions away from offending. The paper argues that an analysis of the subtle shifts in young people's perceptions and interpretations of their situation sheds light on the complex nature of desisting from crime. To do so, the paper focuses on the role of relevance in order to explore how these subtle shifts in thinking enable young people to reinterpret their lives and move towards desistance. By way of undertaking this analysis, this paper draws on Alfred Schutz's phenomenological approach to the nature of relevance to explore how young people shift between their known world of ‘doing crime’ and an unknown world of being ‘straight and legitimate’.

Keywords:

• crime
• risk
• transition
• youth culture
• Alfred Schutz

Notes

1. The research project was funded by a Lotterywest Social Research Grant in conjunction with the Institute of Restorative Justice and Penal Reform, Western Australia.

2. Giddens has also commented on the work of Schutz. See Giddens 1979, 1995, pp. 237–243.

3. Juvenile justice in Western Australia is governed by the Young Offenders Act 1994 (WA). This legislation is built on a three-tier system that aims to divert young people away from detention and into community-based programmes. Diversion Level 1 involves a formal caution either from the police or the Children's Court. Diversion Level 2 involves more serious crimes and can result in a Community-Based Order whereby people undertake community- based work under supervision. Diversion Level 3 is the most serious form of intervention; it can result in a Conditional Release Order under supervision, or, as a last resort, it can involve detention. All diversionary levels require attendance with a Juvenile Justice Team. This team then negotiates between all the parties involved: the young person, the family and the victim to establish a satisfactory outcome. This system is based on a multi-agency approach similar to the Youth Offending Teams developed in the UK. www.aic.gov.au/conferences/juvenile/wells [Accessed 12 December 2008].

4. PCYCs are clubs run in partnership between the Western Australian Police and community groups; they are especially designed to engage young people in a broad range of activities that aim to enhance citizenship, friendship, sport, recreation and education.

5. Year 10 is the last year of junior high school in Western Australia; it is the minimum education standard required for young people to leave school.

6. Year 12 is the final year of high-school education in Western Australia; it provides young people with a gateway into tertiary education.

7. The extracts presented are the young people's accounts of their experiences; they include age and gender but no further descriptors are included in order to maintain confidentiality.

8. ‘Hooning through the bush’ or ‘hooning’ in any form refers to young people displaying reckless behaviour; in this case, it refers to driving in a reckless manner either in the city or on the outskirts of the city, which includes tracts of bush land.

9. ‘Mobbing’ is a term used by several of the young people in the study. It refers to a group of people surrounding a person at a train or bus station, often threatening them and then stealing their belongings – money, bag, shoes – whatever items the group of people want. This was explained in detail by the project participants.