Gender, Crime, and Desistance: Toward a Theory of Cognitive Transformation

2002/01/01 by Peggy C. Giordano, Stephen A. Cernkovich, Jennifer L. Rudolph · 1,824 citations
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cognition #Counterpoint #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis #Criminology #Developmental psychology #Homelessness and Social Issues #Life course approach #Narrative #Perspective (graphical) #Psychology #Situated #Social psychology #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1086/343191

published in American Journal of Sociology 107(4), 990-1064 (University of Chicago Press)

openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

his article analyzes data derived from the first detailed long-term follow-up of a sample of serious adolescent female delinquents and similarly situated males. Neither marital attachment nor job stability, factors frequently associated with male desistance from crime, were strongly related to female or male desistance. A symbolic-interactionist perspective on desistance is developed as a counterpoint to Sampson and Laub's theory of informal social control, and life history narratives are used to illustrate the perspective. This cognitive theory is generally compatible with a control approach but (a) adds specificity regarding underlying change mechanisms, (b) explains some negative cases, and (c) fits well with life course challenges facing contemporary serious female (and more provisionally male) offenders.

Citations

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