Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Theoretical Criminology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gadd, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The role of recognition in the desistance process

A case analysis of a former far-right activist

David Gadd

Keele University, UK

This article explores the intersubjective dynamics that foster desistance from crime. It explains that the concepts of ‘identification’ and ‘recognition’—as defined by Jessica Benjamin—illuminate how psychic change can come about despite social continuity within offenders’ lives. The value of Benjamin’s approach is illustrated through the analysis of the case of a former far-right activist. The article shows that in order to desist from crimes that involve a symbolic ‘othering’ (e.g. hate crimes) offenders have to reclaim the psychic parts of themselves that are projected onto victims. The article concludes that when those deemed ‘other’ are able to withstand and survive hostile projections the possibilities for psychic change among desisting offenders are enhanced.

Key Words: desistance • hate • psychoanalysis • racism • recognition • subjectivity

Theoretical Criminology, Vol. 10, No. 2, 179-202 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1362480606063138
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br J CriminolHome page
D. Gadd
Aggravating Racism and Elusive Motivation
Br. J. Criminol., November 1, 2009; 49(6): 755 - 771.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Theoretical CriminologyHome page
S. Farrall, B. Godfrey, and D. Cox
The role of historically-embedded structures in processes of criminal reform: A structural criminology of desistance
Theoretical Criminology, February 1, 2009; 13(1): 79 - 104.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Br J CriminolHome page
B. Vaughan
The Internal Narrative of Desistance
Br. J. Criminol., May 1, 2007; 47(3): 390 - 404.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]