Crime as an identity

This article is adapted from the Presidential Address delivered at the 57th Annual Conference of the Western Social Science Association in Portland, Oregon on April 10, 2015. A slightly modified version was presented at Tunku Abdul Rahman University in Kampar, Malaysia, on June 3, 2015.

Abstract

Beginning with a question about the motivation to study crime and based on the work of Edwin Sutherland and Howard Becker, I examine the implications of incorporating conceptions pertaining to personal identity and the self into the sociology of deviance and criminology. I illustrate the insights gained by reviewing findings from empirical research conducted on prison inmates in two countries, domestic violence perpetrators undergoing therapy and incarcerated gun violence offenders.

Notes

This article is adapted from the Presidential Address delivered at the 57th Annual Conference of the Western Social Science Association in Portland, Oregon on April 10, 2015. A slightly modified version was presented at Tunku Abdul Rahman University in Kampar, Malaysia, on June 3, 2015.

Additional information

N. Prabha Unnithan is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University where he has been employed since 1987. He edited the Journal of Criminal Justice Education between 1999 and 2002 and the Social Science Journal from 2006 to 2011. Unnithan's recent books include an edited collection, Crime and Justice in India (2013); a text, Policing and Society: A Global Perspective (2011, with M.J. Palmiotto); and, a monograph, Guns, Violence, and Criminal Behavior: The Offender's Perspective (2009, with M.R. Pogrebin and P.B. Stretesky). Unnithan was President of the Western Social Science Association in 2014–2015 and is now the organization's Immediate Past President. He serves currently as Secretary of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.