
Quantified Desistance: A Scoping Review of Conventions in the Scientific Literature
Author(s) -
Marichelle C. Leclair,
Ann-Pierre Raiche,
M. Latulippe,
Théo Lepage-Richer,
Yanick Charette,
Laurence Roy,
Anne G. Crocker
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
crime and delinquency/crime and delinquency
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.431
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1552-387X
pISSN - 0011-1287
DOI - 10.1177/00111287211041525
Subject(s) - reification (marxism) , psychology , juvenile delinquency , data science , computer science , epistemology , sociology , criminology , political science , law , politics , philosophy
This paper adopts a conventionalist approach to shed light on the measurement and reification problems that underlie the quantification of desistance from crime in the scientific literature. Analysis of 100 papers spanning three decades indicates that approaches based on theoretical classification have recently lost ground in favor of more sophisticated techniques aimed at empirically identifying subgroups. These techniques convey the impression of objectiveness among statistics users and consumers and, as a result, the classification “desisters” and “persisters” are increasingly reified. Findings suggest that the quantification of desistance is intimately linked to the maintenance of a classification system that constitutes delinquency as a stable category and contributes to “making” up new kinds of people over which institutions can legitimately intervene.