Family Relations and Criminal Career

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

Ellensburg

Event Website

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source

Start Date

18-5-2020

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to delineate the mechanisms through which ex offenders’ criminal identity and familial relations interact. Three in-depth interviews with three individuals who have a criminal record are analyzed. There are two major findings. First, family influence is vital for an individual to start a criminal career. Through “altercasting,” a process in which a person’s identity performance is to signal and respond to others’ behavior, the interviewees assimilated to their environment full of hardships, which eventually led to a criminal career. Second, behavioral change often follows a conscious decision to stop a criminal career as anticipated by an identity theory of criminality. That is, only after a person entertains identity change can identity behavioral alteration begin. For the three interviewees, the change of the criminal identity was often (or believed to be) reinforced by social relations, particularly familial connections.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Cynthia Zhang and Dominic Klyve

Department/Program

Sociology

Additional Mentoring Department

https://cwu.studentopportunitycenter.com/2020/04/family-relations-and-criminal-career/

Share

COinS
 
May 18th, 12:00 PM

Family Relations and Criminal Career

Ellensburg

The objective of this research project is to delineate the mechanisms through which ex offenders’ criminal identity and familial relations interact. Three in-depth interviews with three individuals who have a criminal record are analyzed. There are two major findings. First, family influence is vital for an individual to start a criminal career. Through “altercasting,” a process in which a person’s identity performance is to signal and respond to others’ behavior, the interviewees assimilated to their environment full of hardships, which eventually led to a criminal career. Second, behavioral change often follows a conscious decision to stop a criminal career as anticipated by an identity theory of criminality. That is, only after a person entertains identity change can identity behavioral alteration begin. For the three interviewees, the change of the criminal identity was often (or believed to be) reinforced by social relations, particularly familial connections.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2020/COTS/123