Skip Navigation


British Journal of Criminology Advance Access originally published online on October 13, 2006
British Journal of Criminology 2007 47(3):390-404; doi:10.1093/bjc/azl083
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
47/3/390    most recent
azl083v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vaughan, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The British Journal of Criminology 47:390-404 (2007)
© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (ISTD). All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

The Internal Narrative of Desistance

Barry Vaughan*

* Dr Barry Vaughan, Institute of Public Administration, 57–61 Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4, Ireland; bvaughan{at}ipa.ie.


  Abstract

Recent desistance research has emphasized the importance of shifts in offenders' identities to explain cessation from crime. Explanatory weight is given to how the agent reflects and acts upon relevant social circumstances rather than seeing desistance as the product of greater control exerted by the obligations of new roles. This kind of self-reflexivity is achieved through an internal moral conversation that is often couched in terms of agents' ultimate concerns and their relationship with others. In so doing, desisters fashion a narrative identity, which acknowledges yet disclaims past actions and commits them to an ideal future self.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Theoretical CriminologyHome page
M. Ajzenstadt
The relative autonomy of women offenders' decision making
Theoretical Criminology, May 1, 2009; 13(2): 201 - 225.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Theoretical CriminologyHome page
D. C. Bracken, L. Deane, and L. Morrissette
Desistance and social marginalization: The case of Canadian Aboriginal offenders
Theoretical Criminology, February 1, 2009; 13(1): 61 - 78.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Theoretical CriminologyHome page
S. Farrall, B. Godfrey, and D. Cox
The role of historically-embedded structures in processes of criminal reform: A structural criminology of desistance
Theoretical Criminology, February 1, 2009; 13(1): 79 - 104.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.