Some people begin a period of delinquency in adolescence, but there is no rule that says they cannot be turned around. Studying why some people stop exhibiting delinquent behaviour after having gotten involved in it, is therefore of capital importance. In his most recent work (1), Michel Born tries to understand how young delinquents can be reached and helped.

Resilience and desistance

One of the central concepts of the book by Michel Born, as emphasised by Boris Cyrulnik in a preface,  is “desistance” from delinquent behaviour – cessation of a type of behaviour after having learned and practiced that behaviour. This word choice is indicative of the philosophy of this book, based on a concept something like the resilience that is spoken of by Cyrulnik: even when there is a tendency, there is no necessity. What is necessary is to find out how certain people were able to get away from delinquent behaviour, in order to help people who find desisting from that behaviour more difficult.

So delinquents can escape from delinquency. Cyrulnik says, “That which leads children into delinquency is an external factor, a group phenomenon, where the adolescent wants to have a place in the group. To the extent that an adolescent has strained relations with his or her parents, the peer group, functioning almost like a clan, surrounds the adolescent, and validates transgressive behaviour.” Cyrulnik describes this tendency, which leads unstable adolescents toward delinquency, if they are not properly integrated in a family that can show them love and impose discipline, ties of affection that make them feel safe, and prohibitions that give structure to young lives. In such a situation, interventions in the field are focused on establishing relationships with young people, not on punishing them or locking them up. The creation of such a relationship creates a space for talking about things, and such a space is an example of resilience.

The author adapts the concept of resilience to delinquency: "It is probably necessary to distinguish a restrictive definition from one that is a little broader. Resilience, strictly speaking, consists in not getting into trouble despite the presence of a number of risk factors. The second definition, the familiar one of “not breaking under stress” can apply in the case of a person who fell victim to a syndrome of criminal behaviour and nonetheless recovered, and took up a socially positive way of living. This practical resilience is not the same as desistance, which is a stop to all delinquent activity, not including new, socially positive developments."

For Michel Born, desistance must be the first goal of treatment of young or adult delinquents. The primary goal of psychological/social interventions is the insertion or re-insertion of the adolescents into a social context. His work, which is both theoretical and concrete at the same time, exposes the psychological factors, which operating within existing structures help adolescents work their way out of delinquency somehow. A remarkable, fascinating and straightforward study, based on the author’s experiences as a researcher and as a clinician, and on relevant works and initiatives from different sources across the globe.

(1)Pour qu'ils s'en sortent, Michel Born, preface by Boris Cyrulnik, De Boeck, “Comprendre” collection, 2012.