Desistance from criminal offending: exploring gender similarities and differences

   Objective: to reveal the similarities and differences between female and male discrete offender groups (desisters, persisters, late onseters, and conformers).

   Methods: dialectical approach to cognition of social phenomena, allowing to analyze them in historical development and functioning in the context of the totality of objective and subjective factors, which predetermined the following research methods: formal-logical and sociological.

   Results: while some researchers have concluded that psycho-social predictors of crime are similar across gender, other criminologists have argued that predictors of crime may vary between females and males. The results from this investigation reveal some similarities and differences in the risk factors between discrete offender groups by gender and the predictors of female and male desistance from crimes. Therefore, researchers studying desistance cannot assume the generality of effects of variables across gender; rather, they must also consider the possibility of specific effects of predictors on female and male desistance.

   Scientific novelty: Over the past several decades, researchers have more fervently examined female offending. The criminal career research paradigm put forth by Blumstein and colleagues in 1986 offers an opportunity for researchers to examine offending, including female offending, from multiple perspectives including onset, persistence, and desistance from a multitude of theoretical traditions. Using data from the National Youth Survey, this investigation examined the similarities and/or differences between female and male discrete offender groups (desisters, persisters, late onseters, and conformers) and theoretical predictors of desistance and persistence from less serious crimes. Results of the research revealed significant gender differences between the discrete offender groups as well as similarities and differences between the genders in predictors of desistance and persistence for less serious crimes.

   Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in scientific, pedagogical and law enforcement activities when considering the issues related to preventing and eliminating crimes.

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