Treatment of Sex Offenders

304
P. Lussier
Peer Influence
While criminologists have long recognized the role and importance of peer influence
in delinquent activities (e.g., Sutherland, 1947 ), its interpretation differs across school
of thoughts. Control theorists generally argue that peer delinquency is a consequence
of individuals seeking the company of others with similar background, interests, lifestyle,
and routine activities. In other words, the presence of negative social influences
is a consequence rather than a cause of delinquency (e.g., Gottfredson & Hirschi,
1990 ). This is reinforced by the idea that, especially in adolescence, delinquency is a
group-phenomenon where co-offending is common (e.g., Farrington, 2003 ). Social
learning theorists, however, argue that delinquency is learned from others through the
acquisition of attitudes supportive to crime and delinquency (Sutherland, 1947 ) or
imitation and reinforcement (Akers & Cochran, 1985 ), while others argue that the
peer-delinquency association is bidirectional (Thornberry et al., 1994 )—i.e., association
with delinquent peers increase delinquency involvement through reinforcement
provided by members of the peer network, while delinquency involvement favor further
development of delinquent peer association. Warr ( 1993 ) has examined the role
of peer influence in the context of desistance from offending. He reported that the
amount of time spend with friends, exposure to them and their influence as well as
their commitment of friends follows the age–crime curve, that is, it peaks during
adolescence at a time where delinquency involvement is most important and it typically
drops thereafter. Warr ( 1998 ) argued that crucial to desistance from crime are
changing patterns of peers relations over life course and significant life transitions
may favor such changes. Of importance, marriage appears to discourage crime and
delinquency by weakening former criminal associations. Warr’s analyses of the
National Youth Survey data, a national probability sample of teens including a follow-up
until age 24, revealed that time spent with friends changed following marriage
and not before, suggesting that these individuals chose to settle not as a result
of fractured peer relationships. These findings are intriguing but should be interpreted
cautiously as these were observed with samples drawn from the general population
which do not necessarily generalize to samples including chronic, violent and
sexual offenders. With a highly delinquent sample, Giordano et al. ( 2003 ) has shown
that while marriage can serve to reduce contact with negative peer influence, it is not
inevitable. They stressed that without a strong motivation to change and commitment
to the idea of developing a more respectable identity, the person may simply ignore
the partner’s efforts or even break the relationship altogether.
Developmental, Life Course Explanations
Life Course, Turning Points, and Access to Adult Roles
Life course researchers have stressed the role of social factors and local circumstances
to explain human development. Elder ( 1998 ), for example, argues that
developmental trajectories are altered by social circumstances. This author emphasized
the importance of approaching human lives from a dynamic perspective in that