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Typologies of Young Resisters and Desisters

School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK, c.murray{at}soton.ac.uk

The Quest for Identity study explores how young people maintain their resistance to offending and it argues that for some this entails active resistance, rather than merely reflecting an innocence often associated with childhood non-offending. Two qualitative methods were used in the study to elicit young people's own perspectives. Secondary analysis was conducted on 112 semi-structured interviews with teenagers, 62 of whom who had never offended (`resisters') and 50 of whom had offended and then ceased (`desisters'). Additionally, primary data were gathered by means of peer led focus groups conducted with 52 resisters. A key contribution of the study is the development of typologies of young resisters and desisters. The article outlines the two resister types, namely innocents and streetwise resisters and the three desister types: reformed characters, desisters on the margins, and quasi-resisters (desisters who retain a resister identity) which were developed during the analysis. It also considers the implications of the findings for policy, practice and research.

Key Words: desisters • resisters • typologies • young people

Youth Justice, Vol. 9, No. 2, 115-129 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1473225409105491


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