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Abstract: Findings are presented of a qualitative exploration of offenders' accounts of themselves, their lives and their offending behaviour. Participants were nine male and nine female offenders, aged 19 to 50 years. A model of crime as described by these individuals was developed. Gendered meanings were explored in both men's and women's accounts. Pathways into crime described by the participants were shaped by a range of personal and social background influences and by processes related to negative social relations, positive evaluations of crime, and crime orientation. Changes in the same influences and processes, with a greater emphasis on the personal level, were apparent in participants' descriptions of their pathways out of crime.
Byrne et al. (Thu,) studied this question.