“She’s Puttin’ Pressure on Me to Do Somethin’”: The Impact of Personal Relationships on Intermittency in the Criminal Career

ABSTRACT

Limited attention has been paid to studying intermittency (i.e., gaps in offending) in the criminal career. Data obtained through in-depth interviews with a sample of 16 formerly incarcerated men, were used to explore the impact of personal relationships on intermittency. Life history narratives were analyzed within a social control framework to further our understanding of how personal relationships influence offenders’ decisions to take breaks from offending. The research also examined how personal relationships impact decisions to return to offending. The findings suggest that relationships with significant others, children and parents impacted the cessation of and the return to criminal behavior.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Heith Copes and Shadd Maruna for their comments on an earlier draft of the paper.

Notes

¹ Laub and Sampson (2003) discuss intermittent patterns in offending in Chapter 5, “Zig-Zag Offending” but the theoretical framework is focused on persistence and desistance over the life course.

² The University Institutional Review Board approved the research protocol.

³ It is important to note that the median age of interviewees was 46.5 years and most began offending at an early age – median was 15.5 years. The life histories of most participants were lengthy, and as they spoke about aging and offending over time, an increasing number claimed their intermittency was an attempt to desist rather than stop temporarily.

⁴ Two of the 16 men in this study noted that their marriages altered their interests, perspectives, and at times social circles which helped contribute to their temporary breaks from offending.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rashaan A. DeShay

Rashaan A. DeShay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at Arlington. She received her Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas, and her J.D. from Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. Her research interests include intermittency, institutional corrections, prisoner reentry, wrongful convictions, and qualitative methodology.

Lynne M. Vieraitis

Lynne M. Vieraitis is a professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests include identity theft, crime policy, and inequality and violence. She is co-author (with Heith Copes) of the book, Identity Thieves: Motives and Methods published by Northeastern University Press.