When an individual is immersed in the party lifestyle, every aspect of their life is controlled, limited and shaped by their day-to-day activities and priorities. The central theme to the ‘life as a party’ climate is experiencing the most amount of pleasure with close friends while retaining freedom from routine responsibilities and commitments. Elements of the party lifestyle include spending time with friends (and committing crimes with them), drug and alcohol abuse, reckless and impulsive behaviour, lack of regular, stable employment and multiple others. Each aspect of the party lifestyle has a direct influence on an offender’s criminal decision making. By analyzing the group setting of the party lifestyle, drug and alcohol abuse and subsequently
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Instead, individuals are consumed in their life of crime, creating a cyclical pattern that can be inescapable. Shover and Honaker clarify the two contrasting shapes the cycle can take; firstly “when offenders’ efforts to maintain the lifestyle are largely successful, crimes are committed to in order to sustain circumstances or a pattern of activities they experience as pleasurable” (41). As offenders absorbed by the party lifestyle can get used to a certain standard of luxurious living, they commit crimes to uphold and maintain this standard. The down period in which offenders do not commit crimes, but instead live off the profits does not last “for more than a few days” (Shover & Honaker 43) as “party pursuits require continuous infusions of money and no single method of generating funds” (43) can sustain individuals much longer, resulting in an continuous pattern of …show more content…
Group pressure, substance abuse and the cyclical nature of crime all control and affect an offender’s decision making. Though methods of social intervention, such as drug rehabilitation, could possibly have positive effects on offenders living the party life, deterrence or other similar methods of crime control seem meager when analyzing offenders’ desperation when they have begun struggling. Leading a crime centered lifestyle presents continued challenges that can force offenders into a cycle of crime that can be impossible to
Instead, individuals are consumed in their life of crime, creating a cyclical pattern that can be inescapable. Shover and Honaker clarify the two contrasting shapes the cycle can take; firstly “when offenders’ efforts to maintain the lifestyle are largely successful, crimes are committed to in order to sustain circumstances or a pattern of activities they experience as pleasurable” (41). As offenders absorbed by the party lifestyle can get used to a certain standard of luxurious living, they commit crimes to uphold and maintain this standard. The down period in which offenders do not commit crimes, but instead live off the profits does not last “for more than a few days” (Shover & Honaker 43) as “party pursuits require continuous infusions of money and no single method of generating funds” (43) can sustain individuals much longer, resulting in an continuous pattern of …show more content…
Group pressure, substance abuse and the cyclical nature of crime all control and affect an offender’s decision making. Though methods of social intervention, such as drug rehabilitation, could possibly have positive effects on offenders living the party life, deterrence or other similar methods of crime control seem meager when analyzing offenders’ desperation when they have begun struggling. Leading a crime centered lifestyle presents continued challenges that can force offenders into a cycle of crime that can be impossible to