Behavioral, self, and social control predictors of desistance from crime: A test of launch and contemporaneous effect models

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 50-71

  Morizot, Julien ^a   Le Blanc, Marc ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

Criminal activity; Desistance; Deviant behavior; Latent trajectory modeling; Personality; Self control; Social control

Indexed keywords

EID: 33847016541     PISSN: 10439862     EISSN: 15525406     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1043986206298945     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1-26.
2. Blokland, A. A. J. (2005). Crime over the life span: Trajectories of criminal behavior in Dutch offenders. Leiden, the Netherlands: NSCR.
3. Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: John Wiley.
4. Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2006). Latent curve models: A structural equations perspective. New York: John Wiley.
5. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Deci, S. (1994). Nature-nurture reconceptualized in developmental perspective: A bioecological model. Psychological Review, 101, 568-586.
6. Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Krueger, R. F., & Schmutte, P. S. (1994). Are some people crime-prone: Replications of the personality-crime relationship across countries, genders, races, and methods. Criminology, 32, 163-195.
7. Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1999). Temperament: A new paradigm for trait psychology. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 399-423). New York: Guilford.
8. Cloninger, C. R. (1987). A systematic method for clinical description and classification of personality variants. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 573-588.
9. Cusson, M., & Pinsonneault, P. (1986). The decision to give up crime. In D. B. Cornish & R. V. Clarke (Eds.), The reasoning criminal: Rational choice perspectives on offending (pp. 72-82). New York: Springer-Verlag.
10. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goals pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.
11. Eysenck, H. J. (1989). The causes and cures of criminality. New York: Plenum.
12. Farrington, D. P. (Ed.). (2005). Integrated developmental and life course theories of offending; advances in criminological theory (Vol. 14). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
13. Farrington, D. P., & West, D. J. (1995). Effects of marriage, separation, and children on offending by adults males. In Z. S. Blau & J. Hagan (Eds.), Current perspectives on aging and the life cycle (Vol. 4, pp. 249-281). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
14. Fréchette, M., & Le Blanc, M. (1987). Délinquances et délinquants [Delinquencies and delinquents]. Boucherville, Quebec: Gaetan Morin.
15. Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107, 990-1064.
16. Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1940). Juvenile delinquents grown up. New York, Commonwealth Fund.
17. Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
18. Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child's environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-489.
19. Hindelang, M. J., Hirschi, T., & Weiss, J. (1981). Measuring delinquency. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
20. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.
21. Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55.
22. Hussong, A. M., Curran, P. J., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., & Carrig, M. M. (2004). Substance abuse hinders desistance in young adults' antisocial behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 1029-1046.
23. Kazemian, L. (2007). Desistance from crime: Theoretical, empirical, methodological, and policy considerations. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 23, 5-27.
24. Krueger, R. F., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2000). Epidemiological personology: The unifying role of personality in population-based research on problem behaviors. Journal of Personality, 68, 967-998.
25. Kruttschnitt, C., Uggen, C., & Shelton, K. (2000). Predictors of desistance among sex offenders: The interaction of formal and informal social controls. Justice Quarterly, 17, 61-87.
26. Lahey, B. B., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (Eds.). (2003). Causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency. New York: Guilford.
27. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (1993). Turning points in the life course: Why change matters to the study of crime. Criminology, 31 (3). 301-325.
28. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2001). Understanding desistance from crime. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice (Vol. 28, pp. 1-69). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
29. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquents boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
30. Le Blanc, M. (1994). Late adolescence deceleration of criminal activity and development of self- and social control. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 2, 51-68.
31. Le Blanc, M. (1997). A generic control theory of the criminal phenomenon: The structural and dynamical statements of an integrative multilayered control theory. In T. P. Thornberry (Ed.), Developmental theories of crime and delinquency: Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 7, pp. 215-286). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
32. Le Blanc, M. (2005). An integrative self-control theory of deviant behavior: Answers to contemporary empirical and theoretical developmental criminology issues. In D. P. Farrington (Ed.), Integrated developmental and life course theories of offending: Advances in criminological theory (Vol. 14, pp. 125-163). Piscataway, NJ: Transaction.
33. Le Blanc, M., & Fréchette, M. (1989). Male criminal activity from childhood through youth: Multilevel and developmental perspectives. New York: Springer-Verlag.
34. Le Blanc, M., & Loeber, R. (1998). Developmental criminology updated. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice (Vol. 23, pp. 115-198). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35. Lewis, M. (1997). Altering fate: Why the past does not predict the future ? New York: Guilford.
36. Loeber, R., & Le Blanc, M. (1990). Toward a developmental criminology. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice (Vol. 12, pp. 375-473). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
37. Lykken, D. T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
38. Markon, K. E., Krueger, R. F., & Watson, D. (2005). Delineating the structure of normal and abnormal personality: An integrative hierarchical approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 139-157.
39. Maruna, S. (2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
40. Maruna, S. (2005). Desistance from crime and exploratory style. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 20, 184-200.
41. Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
42. Morizot, J., & Le Blanc, M. (2003). Continuity and change in personality traits from adolescence to midlife: A 25-year longitudinal study comparing representative and adjudicated men. Journal of Personality, 71, 705-756.
43. Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., Fagan, J., Cauffman, E., Piquero, A. R., Chassin, L., et al. (2004). Theory and research on desistance from antisocial activity among serious adolescent offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 213-236.
44. Muthen, L. K., & Muthen, B. O. (2006). Mplus user's guide. Los Angeles: Muthen & Muthen.
45. Nagin, D. S. (2005). Group-based modeling of development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
46. Ouimet, M., & Le Blanc, M. (1996). The role of life experiences in the continuation of the adult criminal career. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 6, 73-97.
47. Piquero, A. R., Farrington, D. P., & Blumstein, A. (2003). The criminal career paradigm. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice (Vol. 30, pp. 359-506). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
48. Rhodes, W. M. (1989). The criminal career: Estimates of the duration and frequency of crime commission. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 5, 3-32.
49. Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1-25.
50. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
51. Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2003). Life-course desisters? Trajectories of crime among delinquent boys followed to age 70. Criminology, 41, 555-592.
52. Singer, J. D., & Willett, J. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. New York: Oxford.
53. Stoolmiller, M., & Blechman, E. A. (2005). Substance use is a robust predictor of adolescent recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 32, 302-328.
54. Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Wei, E., Loeber, R., & Masten, A. S. (2004). Desistance from persistent serious delinquency in the transition to adulthood. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 897-918.
55. Warr, M. (1998). Life-course transitions and desistance from crime. Criminology, 36, 183-216.
56. Warr, M. (2002). Companions in crime: The social aspects of criminal conduct. New York: Cambridge University Press.
57. Wilson, J. Q., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985). Crime and human nature: The definitive study of the causes of crime. New York: Simon & Schuster.
58. Wright, J. P., & Cullen, F. E. (2004). Employment, peers, and life course transitions. Justice Quarterly, 21, 183-203.
59. Zucker, R. A., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Moses, H. D. (1995). Emergence of alcohol problems and the several alcoholisms: A developmental perspective on etiologic theory and life course trajectory. In D. Cicchetti & D. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology, Vol. 2: Risk, disorder, and adaptation (pp. 677-711). New York: John Wiley.