Logoterapia y relatos de redenciónaportes de la logoterapia al proceso de desistimiento de la delincuencia

Resumen

This research analyses the effects of meaning in life ¿on its presence and absence¿ and the «will to meaning» motivational theory in the different stages of the criminal career, specially its desistance. Life course criminology has proposed a wide spectrum of theories to explain the etiology and evolution of criminal career. However, there is not a single model which can explain, on its own, the processes involved on its onset, persistence and end. Instead, recent studies signal that crime occurs due to the reciprocal confluence and interaction of many risk and protective factors. Nonetheless, there is a scarce knowledge available about the role played by meaning in life and other existential variables in such process. Viktor Frankl claimed during the mid-20th century that existential vacuum ¿lack of meaning¿ was the main cause of the «mass neurotic triad» ¿aggression, depression, addiction¿. Recent psychological studies confirm the relationship between such variable and certain antisocial behaviors, especially violence, substance abuse and alcoholism. Moreover, it¿s been observed that inmate population normally shows higher indicators of existential vacuum than general population, especially those who relapse. Contrarily, the presence of meaning is linked to positive states, such as self-regulation, optimism, hope and wellbeing (protective factors which prevent criminal behavior). Hence, we suggest that those elements that logotherapy assume as common amongst human nature ¿self-determination, will to meaning, self-transcendence, etc.¿ are involved in the development of the criminal career and underlie the desistance process. To check this hypothesis, we used a mixed research approach: the weight of our study relied on a qualitative method ¿life stories analysis¿, whose results were complemented by a quantitative method ¿administration of a meaning in life questionnaire and an ad hoc questionnaire about sociodemographic and criminological variables¿. Our sample was composed by 27 career offenders ¿18 men and 9 women¿: 23 who ceased offending and 4 who still persisted when they were interviewed. Results showed that participants were troubled by «existential vacuum» during their criminal career, which promoted addiction and criminal persistence. Instead, desistance involved a process of existential transformation of the identity, characterized by the discovery of new significative sources of meaning ¿e.g., family, religion, helping others, etc.¿ which provided a sense of fullness that couldn¿t be experienced during their criminal past. This served as a protection factor for the risk of recidivism. We concluded that the paradigms of desistance and criminal career should move towards a holistic approach which foresees the multicausality and reciprocal interaction of meaning in life with biological, social and psychological factors. Moreover, treatment models could benefit from the inclusion of the logotherapeutic fundamentals on its interventions. Thus, meaning in life could serve as a factor that could reduce the risk of recidivism and mitigate the influence of certain criminogenic needs.