‘Rolling dolo’: Desistance from delinquency and negative peer relationships over the early adolescent life-course

Abstract

Although much of the literature on desistance has focused on late adolescence and early adulthood, little is known about how delinquent early adolescent African-American males develop strategies to desist from youth crime and violence during mid-early adolescence. Furthermore, there are few qualitative studies which examine the strategies delinquent black male youth use to negotiate neighborhood violence and the code of the street. This paper explores why some delinquent black male youth choose to maintain distal relationships or acquaintanceships with neighborhood peers as a safety strategy rather than forge relationships characterized by mutual obligation, trust and reciprocity. Youth define this strategy as 'rolling dolo'. Drawing on three years of longitudinal ethnographic participant observations and interviews with 15 early adolescent African-American males (ages 12-16) living in a high-risk, low-income inner-city neighborhood in central Harlem, this paper qualitatively explores the meaning, practices and implications of the safety strategy of 'rolling dolo'.

Exploring how employment schemes for young offenders aid desistance from crime

“…The supervisor’s acknowledgement that there have been groups of youths at the Skill Mill who have encouraged each other to get involved in criminal and delinquent activities reveals that it is possible for there to be a continuing confirmation of pro-criminal attitudes if offenders work together. Therefore, this study supports the findings of many scholars, in demonstrating that associating with other offenders can promote further criminal activity (Matsueda and Anderson, 1998; Richardson and St. Vil, 2016; Sutherland, 1947; Warr, 1993; Weerman, 2004). However, Skill Mill supervisors made an effort to choose the correct combination of employees and manipulate their working environment so that those further along the desistance process became leader.…”

“…These replacement peer groups also provide support for change and reduce feelings of social isolation. This is important as a series of studies describe how desistance can be a lonely existence (Nugent, 2015; Nugent and Schinkel, 2016; Richardson and St. Vil, 2016).…”

The Rules of (Dis)engagement: Black Youth and Their Strategies for Navigating Police Contact

“…Prior research on this topic examines their approaches to peer relations on the street to authority relations in school. Richardson and St. Vil () document “rolling dolo” as a strategy young black men in Central Harlem employ as a way to avoid delinquent peer groups and the violence associated with those relationships. Likewise, Edin, Rosenblatt, and Zhu () describe “I do me” as a strategy implemented by young black men in Baltimore seeking to resist the pull of the street.…”

Violence-Related Norms and the “Code of the Street”

“…In a socially disorganized neighborhood, Richardson and Vil (2016) investigated ways in which low-income persons manage relationships with peer groups, gangs, and schoolmates to avoid victimization. This study explored the complexities of decision-making in adolescence by conducting interviews with 15 African American adolescents aged 12-16-year old in an inner-city neighborhood.…”