Family victimization and youth delinquency through the narratives of ex-offenders

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore the connection between victimization and delinquency, through the eyes of ex-offenders. The research material includes life stories interviews with 23 ex-prisoners, recruited from two organizations in the field of re-entry services. The thematic analysis focuses on their experiences of family victimization and delinquency, during childhood and adolescence. The material is collected in the context of the research project “The phenomenon of recidivism in Greece: Research data and guidelines for crime policy and social reintegration”, conducted in 2018 with the scientific supervision of Professor Christina Zarafonitou. The analysis highlights four main themes about the connection between family victimization and delinquency. The themes represent four different types of reaction or of coping to the victimization experienced in the family, which are delinquent in content: (a) The first theme is centered around a sense of symbolic flight from a troubled family situation. In this context participants attribute initial crime involvement during adolescence to the use of drugs and the imperative need to find money to buy drugs. In this way drugs are a path to crime. (b) The second theme is centered around behaviors of compensation. Antisocial behaviors are described as a way to exhibit power over others, mostly peers, classmates, other children from the neighbourhood, indicating a way to gain some kind of control over their environment. (c) The third theme is created from descriptions that are centered around the interpretation of the abusive experience as deserving, indicating of the adoption of a “true delinquent” identity. (d) The fourth theme is built from descriptions that depict delinquency as a reaction to the deprived life conditions, in a familial context were parents or caregivers were physically or emotionally absent.