Social Identity Mapping With Justice-Involved Young People: Exploring Identity Pathways to Aid the Desistance of Criminal Offending

Abstract

Social groups and the environments they create play a prominent role in the desistance versus persistence of young peoples' criminal offending. Social Identity Mapping (SIM) provides a quantitative method for understanding the social network of young offenders. This exploratory study was guided by two broad research questions: (1) using the SIM task, we wanted to investigate the experiences of young people moving through the Youth Justice System in Aotearoa New Zealand, and (2) through the use of the SIM task combined with qualitative interviews, we wanted to gain novel insight into the influences that important social groups had on young people's behaviour. The participants were nine young people currently working their way through the Youth Justice System in Aotearoa New Zealand. The average number of groups identified in the SIM task was four (range: 3–6), with the most common groups identified being friends, family, and Gisborne (i.e., the town in which participants all lived). Through the semi-structured interviews, participants noted that they were excluded from some groups (e.g., school) due to their delinquent behaviour. In addition, despite strong motivation to join the workforce and develop a career, participants' social networks and low educational attainment made achieving this goal very challenging. Our findings suggest that desistance efforts would be well served by broadening young offenders' social networks.