Commitment to crime : the role of the criminal justice system

Abstract

Commitment is an important contingency in the criminal career and signifies a refutation by the offender of other possibilities of action. It is often facilitated by the perception on the part of the offender that little is to be gained by abandoning the criminal career. This perception is strengthened by a number of processes, including contact with the criminal justice system. This paper adopts a symbolic interactionist framework and explores how 41 incarcerated young offenders in Malta perceived their contact with the police, the courts and the prison as having influenced their involvement in crime. These young people were interviewed in depth, and their biographies were then used to develop grounded theory. The findings show how interventions by the criminal justice system were interpreted by young offenders as an intrusion that contributes to a reduction in their status. Offenders did not view themselves as locked into a deviant career; they regarded themselves as having chosen such a career after consideration of the costs and benefits. The paper concludes that commitment to criminality is not a passive process. Rather, commitment grows out of offenders’ interpretations of the contingencies encountered along the career path. Contacts with the police, the courts and the prison often solidify commitment because they are perceived as reducing the offender’s opportunities in the conventional world.