ABSTRACT
The researchers came to interview Billy while he was in his late sixties, living in a one-bedroom apartment and working as a bus driver in Boston. Although he had held the job for three years, Billy felt uncomfortable, like something was going to go wrong soon. He figured if he could just win the lottery everything would be okay. Billy had been in and out of prison for most of his adult life. He had committed as many as 26 official delinquent and criminal offenses, was first incarcerated at age 15, and had spent more than half of his adult life in prison. Although Billy had been raised in a good, working class home by a mother and father, he liked playing in the streets and dropped out of school after the eighth grade. He then began to steal cars – they called it “hot-boxing” – with a friend. By age 15, Billy figured he had stolen about 50 cars. He had also started drinking and problems with alcohol continued to haunt Billy for most of his life.
