Kimmy Lux
Confessions of a Dying Thief Term Paper
5/1/2013
In Confessions of a Dying Thief, the main character Sam Goodman is a life-course
criminal who had a very successful career as a fence. In this paper I will discuss three theories
and one research question that play major roles in Confessions of a Dying Thief. The three
theories are: Opportunity Theory, Self and Social Control Theory, and Differential
Association/Social Learning Theories. I also will be discussing an important research question,
which is why do some criminals quit and others persist in crime? Confessions looks at and
explains all of these important elements. Using these components in Confessions of a Dying
Thief, we can better understand how they help answer the important questions in criminology
today.
Opportunity Theory
Opportunity Theory explains how some people have more opportunities for
conventional and criminal means then others do. As stated in class, “it is crucial for explaining
the distribution and types of crime across social structure.” This is easily shown in Confessions
of a Dying Thief; Sam Goodman, along with other characters, have certain opportunities in the
conventional and criminal world available to them. There were many factors that contributed
to the opportunities available for Sam Goodman in the criminal underworld. One factor was
that since Sam is a man he naturally had more criminal opportunities then women have.
Another factor would be his connections to other criminals and mafia personnel, because of
these connections he had more opportunities than criminals who had less criminal connections
than he did. Sam’s furniture shop also opened up criminal opportunities, because he had the
shop he had an easier place to store “hot items”. This gave him more opportunities then
criminals with no place to store their stolen goods. By looking at these factors, we can see that
Sam Goodman had certain criminal opportunities available to him that others might not have
access too.
Access to performance environments is also very important to opportunities theory.
Starting with tools and hardware. This being someone’s physical build, level of strength,
age/health, etc. For example Sam Goodman was a relatively muscular, strong and healthy man
for most of his criminal career. This gave him certain opportunities, for example because Sam
was strong and capable of lifting heavy things, he could partake in such crimes as burglary, safecracking, etc. If Sam did not have the tools and hardware he did, he would not have been able
to participate in such crimes. Second element of access to performance environments is
suitable targets and places. Sam made a living as a fence in American City. His targets were
mainly houses or businesses that were unoccupied and not overly secured. With this, and his
advanced knowledge of how to properly perform burglary, he was able to steal more valuable
things and then sell them and make more money. Without the proper targets that Sam had, his
opportunities in fencing would be quite different. Lastly is contacts and networks. Like
previously stated Sam had many connections with other skilled criminals along with many
members of the local mafia. Because Sam had these connections he had more opportunists.
This being by recommendations from other criminals or recruitment by them.
The eight principles of criminal opportunity can also be seen in Confessions of a Dying
Thief. One of those principles is “opportunity inherently involves agency and choice.” This is
shown when Sam states that he has had the opportunity to deal drugs but he has never given in
a dealt them. This shows that Sam has agency and chose that dealing drugs would not be
something he wanted to partake in so he declined the offer regardless of having the
opportunity to do so. Another principle is that “criminal opportunity is, to some extent,
necessarily crime type specific.” For example, Sam had a plethora of criminal opportunities that
were related to fencing and antique theft. This is because those were the kinds of crimes that
he had specialized in. However, Sam was not presented with many opportunities for kinds of
crime like white collar crime, because he did not specialize it those kinds of crime, and didn’t
have the necessary criminal capital. He also did not have an opportunity to join the local mafia.
Yes, Sam had opportunities to make crucial connections with the mafia but Sam was not Italian
so he would not have had the chance to actually join and become a part of the local mafia
family.
In my opinion Sam’s connections/ networks can be considered one of the most essential
opportunities that affected his career. In figure 9.1 on page 144 of Confessions, it shows that
Sam had connections to six different kinds of criminal networks. These included: fences,
facilitating associates, secondary purchasers, legal officials, employee/ Joe Citizen thieves, and
thieves. All of these connections helped to benefit Sam’s career to persist. For example, Sam’s
connections to legal officials benefitted his criminal career by making him aware of when the
police were “watching him.” He also had connections to auction houses and antique dealers
which benefitted his career by giving him a place to sell his stolen goods, and talk with other
fences about potential opportunities for burglary.
The opportunities a person has does play a role in whether or not they will act
criminally. If someone has many criminal opportunities available to them they are more likely
to engage in criminal behavior, than a person with very limited amounts of criminal
opportunities.
Self and Social Control Theories
Self and social control theories explain that humans are hedonistic and that is a natural
drive to gain pleasure and minimize pain. According to Hirschi in social control theory, a
person’s stakes in conformity are critical. Stakes in conformity are a person’s connections to
conventional society. Sam Goodman had very few stakes in conformity; this is a contributing
factor of his criminal career. There are four different kinds of stakes in conformity. The first
being attachment, Sam was never married so he never had very strong attachment ties. Yes, he
had a few serious girlfriends throughout Confessions, but it’s not the same kind of tie to a
person as being married; the ties of attachment are stronger in marriage. The next stake is
commitment, since Sam had been involve in crime for most of his life he had very few
commitment ties. He did not have much education, and was in and out of prison for parts of his
life. Another thing that probably attributed to his criminal career was Sam never seemed to
establish a trustworthy and honest reputation for himself. Involvement is another stake in
conformity. From a young age Sam was involve in small amounts of deviant behavior.
Involvement is meant to prevent this, if a younger person is involved in various activities, they
have less time to spend with “deviant peers” getting into trouble, and committing small
amounts of crime. The final stake in conformity is beliefs. This means that if someone does not
believe that their actions are morally wrong, they will not see a point in trying to stop doing
them. For example, Sam did not believe that all of what he was doing throughout his criminal
career was morally wrong. This can be said to play a part in why he persisted in crime instead of
quitting at some point.
Sam also demonstrated elements of self-control throughout Confessions of a Dying
Thief. For example Sam had enough self-control to not deal drugs. He also was extremely
against rape and child molestation. He believed that these were the worst kinds of crime and
he would never partake in such things. This shows that he believed that some things were
morally wrong so he chose not to commit such crimes. Throughout Confessions, Sam also
demonstrates key elements of self-control set up by Gottfredson and Hirschi. Sam isn’t seen as
really impulsive, nor does he have a low verbal ability.
A person’s level of self-control affects whether or not they behave criminally. Also, a
person who has higher levels of self-control are less likely to commit crimes. However, Sam
demonstrates a significant level of self-control in choosing what kinds of crimes to partake in.
Differential Association and Social Learning Theories
As stated in Confessions of a Dying Thief, “Differential association refers to differences
in association with messages… favorable or unfavorable to law violation” (26). Individuals
become more involved in crime the more they learn and perfect the skills to commit crime
more successfully. This can happen through criminal connections and other resources that can
advance their criminal career.
Confessions explains three kinds of knowledge that criminals can learn to step up their
careers. The first is civil knowledge; this can be described as the kind of knowledge a person has
in a conventional sense that can also be used in a criminal sense. Next is preparatory
knowledge, which is that a person can gain by simply being around certain people and crimes.
Confessions uses the example of “a young person simply hanging out in Casey’s Pub or at Sam’s
secondhand store. (30)” By simply being in places where crime is discussed or taking place a
person can gain knowledge about how to better commit crimes. The last is technical
knowledge. This is knowledge that is specific to a set of people who specialize in a certain
crime. If a criminal does not have connections to a person who can commit certain crimes it will
be harder for them to learn how to commit them successfully. Sam learned through all kinds of
these types of knowledge. He learned preparatory knowledge at a young age by hanging
around gas stations with other adolescents who were partaking in small amounts of deviance.
Sam said he always had “an eye for clipping” which can be seen as a kind of civil knowledge.
Safe cracking is a technical knowledge that Sam learned. He had to learn from criminals who
specialized in safe cracking because it’s not just something he could learn to do on its own.
From his teenage years on Sam associated with more deviant people than more
conventional type people. Starting with Ronnie Sam began to start participating in crime. Sam
started as a driver while Ronnie would rob gas stations. This gave Sam “a thrill for crime”, and
really gave him his first taste of making money illegally. This also is when Sam was sent to a
juvenile reformatory because of his part in the robberies with Ronnie. He also started
associating with some deviant people when he got a job at the paper mill. He was then arrested
again and Sam ended up in the county jail; he even escaped from jail with a guy he met in
prison. Another very important person who Sam associated with was Jesse a very good burglar
who Sam partnered up with. Sam and Jesse’s partnership lasted a substantially long time. Once
they were arrested and Sam was in jail again their partnership kind of drifted off because Sam
at first tried to stay clean and away from crime.
The social learning that Sam learned in his times in prison was very important to the
success of Sam’s criminal career. Sam even admitting to prison being a place where he really
learned what it took to become a good burglar and later fence. He specifically says he learned
things like: how to be a hustler, how to read people, learned about the pecking order, and most
importantly that crime is a business. The connections that Sam got in prison can also be
considered social learning. He met important people while in prison that ended up benefitting
his criminal career later in his life. Without going to prison Sam might not have learned the
essential tools and skills needed to be as successful as he was.
As a fence Sam also learned crucial things that would keep him out of trouble and also
promote his profits. These were things such as: making sure to quickly unload merchandise,
having places to drop and hide merchandise, and to alter the merchandise. These are all
important things that would make it easier for Sam to get away with what he was doing and to
keep him from getting caught. Without this kind of knowledge Sam would have been at more of
a risk with his fencing and his career would have had a harder time persisting.
In conclusion, the more deviant people a person is associated with the more likely they
will behave deviantly as well. Sam was heavily influenced by a number of deviant people so he
was more likely to have a criminal career than if he associated with more conventional people.
Also what kinds of deviant things a person learns in society can also influence whether or not
they behave criminally. When Sam went to the petitionary he learned a lot of things about
burglary and fencing, which made him a better criminal in the end.
Why do some criminals quit and others persist in crime?
This is a very important research question in criminology. It is meant to try and
understand why certain criminals will eventually stop committing crimes and go back to more
conventional ways, and why other criminals never quit crime for very long and just persist
throughout their life committing crimes.
In the article by Kanazawa and Still entitled “Why Men Commit Crime (and Why They
Desist)” the typical age-crime curve increases during adolescence, and it then peaks around the
earlier to mid-twenties (435-436). It then starts to decrease and men are less likely to commit
crimes the older they get. As we saw in Confessions, Sam goes against the age-crime curve and
he did not desist in crime as he got older, he continued to pursue criminal activity instead. Like
previously said, Sam was never married; this is a common life event that is known to cause
some criminals to convert to more conventional ways of behaving. Also the fact that Sam had
gone to prison multiple times could be another reason why he never quit his criminal career. To
quote Sam “prison takes something out of you. I can’t explain it. You come out a different
person. I don’t know it makes you bitter, hard, or whatever” (328). If Sam had matured in a
more conventional way, (getting an education, marriage, having children), it is more likely that
his criminal activity would have desisted.
Bruce A. Jacobs said in an article entitled “Deterrence and Deterrability” that “Crime
occurs when the expected rewards outweigh the anticipated risks…” meaning that criminals
who see the expected rewards as more important than the potential risk they are more likely to
continue their criminal activity rather than desisting (417). Sam Goodman saw that there was
extremely good money in fencing, he saw this a more appealing award than the potential risk of
being caught and sentenced to prison time. Sam had been sent to the petitionary multiple
times where he learned how to handle prison life. He did not enjoy being in prison but he
learned how to adapt to it and get through it. Because of this the threat of prison never seemed
to scare Sam out of committing crime. He mentions that he had “larceny in his heart” and that
can be seen as another reason why his criminal career never did desist. Sam can be seen as in
incorrigible offender because he seems to completely immune to dissuasion.
At one point, coming right out of the penitentiary, Sam becomes somewhat more
“conventional” and tries to stay out of crime. He focuses on his new shop. Obviously as we see
in Confessions, Sam goes back to fencing and committing crimes. He started back out
“moonlighting” not as a full time fence. The older Sam got the more he saw that if he was
getting to deep into fencing he would start to pull back to ensure his safety.
The question of why some criminals quit and other persist is an important one in
criminology today. Sam, unlike most criminals, never quit partaking in criminal behavior and his
criminal career continued throughout his life. Sam Goodman did not experience many of the
common events that cause most men to quit committing crime.
Conclusion
There were various components that attributed to Sam Goodman’s life as a career
criminal. Some of these components include: opportunity theory, self and social control theories,
differential association/ social learning theories, and the research question: why do some
criminals quit and others persist? Sam Goodman’s career represents all four of these in
Confessions of a Dying Thief.
Works Cited:
Jacobs, Bruce. “Deterrence and Deterrability.” American Society of Criminology 2010: 417-420.
Kanazawa, Satoshi, and Mary Still. “Why Men Commit Crimes (and Why They Desist).”
American Sociological Association November 2000: 434-446.
Steffensmeier, Darrell, and Jeffery Ulmer. Confessions of a Dying Thief. New Brunswick:
Transaction Publishers, 2005.