Intentions and institutions: Turning points and adolescents’ moral threshold

Morality is reemerging into sociological analyses; however social psychological mechanisms are currently underutilized within life course studies. This paper examines a key potential life course turning point in the careers of adolescents who encounter the criminal justice system to demonstrate the moral dimension of desistance from criminal activity. We explore the relationship between social institutions and individual intentions by looking at cognitive and emotional reactions adolescents report encountering the criminal justice system, offering a hypothetical model highlighting the central place of shame – a quintessential moral emotion brought about either by institutional pressures or feedback from significant others – in the process of shifting life course intentions. We focus on these ways that individual ‘moral thresholds’ may shift, potentially leading to life course turning points.