Crime as a job : risk assessment and desistance within professional narratives roles
Fondevila, Gustavo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Política i de Dret Públic)
Hernán Di Marco, Martín (University of Oslo)
Agoff, Carolina (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Sandberg, Sveinung (University of Oslo)

Imprint:	Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2025
Abstract:	Studies have shown that people who commit criminalized acts draw upon different narrative roles. This study highlights the narra¬tive role of the professional and explores how such identities and self-understandings influence risk assessment and desistance. The study is based on qualitative interviews with 54 prisoners from Argentina, Chile, Honduras, and Mexico-all convicted of theft and robbery. The language of formal work and references to detailed risk assessments are essential features of this narrative role. Participants give examples of successful robberies and situational evaluations of danger and consider themselves different from "less professional" accomplices. They describe desistance as motivated by the desire to have some form of "life insurance" and the increase in risk and consequences for family. This cross-country qualitative study details, nuances and contextualizes the narrative role of the professional and argues that this offender identity is important to understand desistance processes in Latin America.
Note:	Altres ajuts: Research Council of Norway 324299
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Desistance ; Latin America ; Narrative roles ; Professional ; Narrative criminology ; Property crimes
Published in:	Justice Quarterly, ISSN 1745-9109

DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2025.2475212

23 p, 1.9 MB

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