ABSTRACT
Few sociologists have studied the later stages of careers in deviance and criminality. This chapter describes how 36 ordinary property offenders, released from confinement from four months to 28 years earlier, changed their perspectives toward life and criminal behavior as they got older. The concept of career refers to common experiences among individuals who have encountered, grappled with, and resolved similar problems. The subjective career is less visible: it includes changes in identity, self-concept, and the framework employed to judge oneself and others. The chapter discusses the major contingencies which led to a modification of the subjects' criminal behavior. It focuses on three sources of data: tape-recorded interviews with 36 men who previously were convicted and incarcerated for ordinary property crimes; their correctional and arrest records; and a systematic examination of autobiographies of comparable offenders–insofar as they include descriptions of the later phases of the authors' criminal careers.
