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Cory Steinle
CRIM/SOC 012H
Jeffrey T. Ulmer
30 November 2016
Confessions of a Dead Thief: Bringing to Life Criminological Theory
Sam Goodman, a lifelong burglar and fencer, serves as an excellent subject for
criminological research. His accounts of life as a professional criminal give us direct insights
into underworld culture and organization, as well as the social aspects of theft, hustling, and
illegal enterprise. Sams narrative provides a first-person account that has been rare to our CRIM
012H study of criminology he is a unique opportunity for us to reflect on our personal biases
towards criminals, and rather, apply the sociological theories we have learned in class to a human
case. In addition, Confessions of a Dying Thief provides a longitudinal perspective into the life
of a criminal. This allows for an in-depth study of desistance, and as I hypothesize, Sams case
presents a strong counterargument to a dichotomous approach to the criminal lifestyle in effect,
Sam proves that criminal classification is not as simple as one is a criminal or isnt a
criminal. Rather, there is a sliding-scale of criminal behavior that can be accounted for by
social bonding theory.
Sams personal relationship with professors Steffensmeier and Ulmer provides a very
humanizing approach to a man whom society often likely regard as an incorrigible offender.
Throughout the book, we do not just see the tough side of Sam, who murders, lies, and steals
we see the weak, dying Sam, who feels guilty about some of his actions, rationalizing decades
worth of wrongdoing. In criminology, sometimes, less experienced students and criminologists

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assess themselves as the force of good, and criminals as a force of bad. While this may carry
some truth, it certainly is not the humane way to treat criminology. This bias of we vs. them
drove the early biological theories of crime by Lombroso, which have largely been disproven by
modern criminology. In their place, Sutherlands theories of differential association and the
subsequent sister theories emerged, seeming to provide the most logical and humane approaches
to explaining criminal behavior.
With these approaches in mind, Confessions of a Dying Thief provides ample opportunity
to research and apply the methods and principles of modern criminologists. In this spirit, the aim
of this paper is to address the four main research questions. Considering Sams popularity in the
underworld, the first research questions seek to analyze how he came to be such an involved
businessman: how does one achieve criminal status in the underworld? Furthermore, what traits
in particular can be beneficial in this regard?
Throughout his life, Sam learns and develops all sorts of criminal abilities. He knows the
five easiest methods to open safes, how to incorporate warm goods into his legitimate antiques
business, and most notably, how to commit a murder and get away with it. As he ages, he
experiences cyclical shifts in the frequency of his delinquency however, he always finds his
way back to crime. This raises concerns, and my second set of research questions seek to
address these concerns: how does desistance occur in a hardened, career criminal? What factors
occur later in life that cause desistance vs. earlier in life?
As a part of Matza and Sykes (1957) research on juvenile delinquents, it was found that
most of these juveniles still had some degree of conventionality and normalcy. Juvenile
delinquents tend to have different techniques of neutralizations and accounts that enable them to
break their bond to conventionality and ultimately, deviate. By the principles Matza and Sykes

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presented, neutralizations and accounts could persist throughout life and continue to serve as
enablers of crime. Their work was later expanded upon by criminologists to include criminal
subcultures and was contextualized within social learning. In Confessions of a Dying Thief,
theres an entire chapter devoted to Sams criminal rationalizations. Sams behavior and
rationale lays the groundwork for my third set of research questions: what sort of orientations do
criminals have to rationalize their behavior? What theories of deviance are specifically
applicable to Sam Goodman?
Lastly, some of Sams rationalizations for his criminal behavior include the idea of just
doing business. Throughout the book, Sam experiences cyclical shifts of his criminal intensity.
However, throughout most of the duration of his fencing career, he also operated a legitimate
side to his business affairs, buying and selling antiques and other valuables. There is no doubt
that Sam had business skills but are there certain business skills that he derived from his
criminal dealings? In other words, what sorts of criminal traits in burglary and fencing translate
into legitimate advantages on the legal side of his dealings?
In the following sections, these questions will be answered using material from both the
book Confessions of a Dying Thief and lecture material from the CRIM/SOC 012H dual-section
offered at the Pennsylvania State University, which includes excerpts from the book
Criminological Theories, coauthored by Ronald Akers and Christine Sellers.
Achieving Criminal Status in the Underworld
In Confessions with a Dying Thief, Sam highlights plenty of traits that characterize highachieving criminals. The authors of the novel pay tribute to successful criminals on page 125,
citing that criminal and social capital, in the form of attitudes, skills, networks, and ways of

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thinking is necessary for long-term viability in criminal enterprise. Specifically, Sam Goodman
was able to build his most powerful criminal enterprise in fencing, so the focus on this research
will be within the realm of fencing.
On page 103, Sam assures a fence is someone who is dealing directly with the thieves.
This task is daunting, and requires the risk of dealing with law enforcement. Sam worked to
maintain a decent relationship with the police at all times. During his time in American City, he
was able to work with some police officers who were corrupt. After his time in prison and his
subsequent migration to Boonseboro, and eventually Tylersville, where he fenced as a part-time
gig while operating a mostly-legitimate business, Sam was forced to engage with state troopers,
who were out to get him. This involved certain social skills and a careful manipulation of
records and networking. In the book, Sam claims that it is a bad idea to keep records of any kind
because in the event that you get caught, the police have more to nail you on.
Throughout his narrative in chapter eight and the subsequent analysis in chapter nine,
Sams desirable traits are continually exemplified. One particular trait essential to his criminal
status (or so Sam claims) is his heart. As the authors define it, heart is a set of traits -- a
combination of physical and mental toughness, of courage and coolness. A person with heart is
able to operate objectively in high-stress situations, maintaining their cool while finishing a job.
Additionally, heart also implies an ability to get tough when need be. This is essential for
dealing with a watchman and managing criminal associates.
Additional traits essential to underworld success include inventiveness, scheming,
ingenuity, practical knowledge, social skills, and an eye for clipping. As a criminal, Sam was
able to be wildly successful throughout the years because of his ability to learn the trade from
others. The conditions permissible for Sam to develop criminal skills arose from a combination

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of strain/anomie theory and differential association/social learning theory. In 1959, Richard

Cloward and Lloyd Ohline presented opportunity theorythe idea that there are two opportunity
structures that influence peoples life chances -- learning opportunity structures and
performance opportunity structures. Learning opportunity structures involve the acquisition of
the desirable criminal skills outlined previously. In Sams case, he learned a lot of skills in
prison. On page 75, he claims, [these traits] I learned in prison, from hanging out with the
better thieves, and from watching all the assholes. I found out what an asshole thief is, what a
good thief is. Further, we can infer the traits necessary to achieve criminal status by the way
Sam viewed his associates. One of Sams favorite people to work with was a burglar named
Jesse. Sam says multiple times throughout Chapter 6 that Jesse is a good criminal and that I
learned a lot from him. He directly states reasons for Jesses criminal status, using phrasing like
you could depend on him, he could handle himself if the police came looking, and Jesse
had a lot of contacts.
The criminal reputation Sam developed for himself throughout his career fits perfectly
into opportunity theory. As Sam aged, he gained access to learning and performance
environments that allowed him to develop a criminal portfolio, in the same sense that artists can
develop a legitimate portfolio learning theory and practicing often. The civil, preparatory, and
technical skills Sam learned fit cleanly into Cloward and Ohlines theory. Additionally, once
Sam was differentially associated and learned valuable skills from his peers, they did not matter
unless he could execute them within the performance opportunity structures around him.
Sams life illustrated many of the theoretical forces that we study as criminologists. His
story provides us with many insights and applications of criminological principles, but does not
answer all of our questions concerning opportunism and criminal status. Sams perspective

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poses the question: is there variation in the way different types of criminals learn their skills?
Can Cloward and Ohlines theories truly be applied to all types of crime? While our analysis of
Sams case certainly provides satisfying answers, there is a wider scope of criminological data
that must also be considered in an effort to validify the process for obtaining criminal skills and
status in the underworld.
Desistance From the Criminal Lifestyle
In Confessions of a Dying Thief, we see a great variance in Sam Goodmans criminal
involvement. Starting as a burglar and ending as a fence, Sams career was wide-ranging and
far-reaching. He formed underworld and upper world connections that benefitted both the
legitimate and illegitimate sides of his operations. The horizontal nature of his dealings in
American City represent just how ingrained Sam was in the criminal lifestyle, and it is these
connections that prevented conventional factors such as age, sociality, and commitment from
causing Sam to desist from the criminal lifestyle. While Sam does not completely desist, these
factors still had a mediating effect on his life, challenging the idea that criminal desistance is a
dichotomy.
In American City, Sam was as involved as any other serious criminal. As dictated by
Hirschis social bonding theory, he was attached to the criminal lifestyle, rather than a
conventional lifestyle. While this theory attempts to explain that deviance is rooted in a lack of
these stakes in conformity, Sam seemingly proves that deviance can be rooted in the presence
of them. What sets Sam apart from the average individual is his own definition of a
conventional lifestyle. Rather than being attached, committed, or involved in conventional
society, Sam feels these same pulls towards criminality. Sam is extraordinarily opportunistic.
Jesse puts it best on page 171 when commenting on the possibility of Sam moonlighting after

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American City, Sam aint happy unless hes pulling somethingif the risk aint that high, if the
opportunity is there, hell go for it. Without a doubt.
Opportunism seems to be the greatest preventative measure of desistance in hardened
criminals. If the opportunity to commit a crime is present, it will likely be extraordinarily
difficult for a criminal of Sams caliber to refuse it. Our study of social learning theory and
subsequent classroom discussions of Confessions of a Dying Thief sometimes failed to address
opportunism as it relates to desistance. Most of the conventional factors that sociologists and
criminologists claim curb criminal activity are only effective as deterrents, in that these factors
often lead to a reduction of criminal opportunities. For example, the stake of conformity
involvement that Hirschi proposed would fall under this assumption. Hirschis definition of
involvement concerned opportunity in the sense that if a person is expending time and energy
doing conventional things, theyll be too busy to be deviant, and thus, will not have as much
criminal opportunity. The same can be said for the principle of commitment. Plenty of times
throughout Sams career, he became involved in a relationship. However, this relationship was
never able to cause Sam to fully desist. The theory behind commitment as defined by Hirschi
is that commitment concerns the rational investments, or social capital, that one has in
society, and by committing a crime, one is risking those investments. In Sams case, we see that
these relationships sometimes mediate the extensiveness of his illegal enterprise, but they never
fully eradicate them. I hypothesize that this disconnect is rooted in the technical definition of
social capital. Sams commitment involves investments in criminal social enterprise, and
through these lens, we can see that commitment is not necessary a catalyst for desistance
because Sam was committed to a deviant lifestyle rather than conventional society.

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This in mind, while the objective availability of Sam never changes, his subjective
availability partially changes while in prison. Its extremely hard to delete criminality entirely
from ones life, but Sam wanted to try, saying things such as Im past 50 years old, maybe its
time to quit and I was telling myself to go strictly legit. In this sense, age may be a
contributing factor is subjective desistence. Desistence certainly varies between types of crimes,
and in crimes requiring physical ability (such as burglary), age could severely impact the
objective availability of a criminal, thus causing them to desist. Additionally, factors such as
moral commitments could have caused a criminal like Sam to desist. But, as will be discussed in
the next section, Sam never really experiences any defining moments in his conventional life that
could cause him to become subjectively unavailable to crime. However, some conventional
rewards do cause Sam to partially desist. During times when he was called a sofa doctor or
had opportunities and involvement in legitimate upholstery were also times where Sam was not
as criminally active, nor did it seem he wished to be.
If we begin to treat criminal persistence like an addictive disorder rather than the result of
a lack of some innumerable sum of conventional ties, we may be able to more greatly curb
crime. All of the skills Sam was able to incorporate into his criminal portfolio through
differential association and social learning haunted him, in a sense. To Sam, these skills were
just sitting there, waiting to be used. It would be a waste not to employ them. We see this
through his rationalizations and dialogue in prison. He said things such as, Im not going to
commit crimes anymorebut if I was, here is how I would do it. This is indicative of Sams
antagonizing inner conflict, the fight between attempting to desist and utilizing his criminal
social and cultural capital.

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As discussed in class, Sam Goodman challenges our current perception of criminal

desistance. Most criminals will never fully return to civilian life. However, there are many
factors and stakes in conformity that could cause a criminal to moonlight their career, in a
similar fashion to Sam. Sams case raises the following: are criminals of Sams caliber able to
fully desist? If so, what is preventing these hardened criminals from doing so? Are
criminological theories applicable to all criminals, or will there always be a subset of criminals
like Sam who seem to go against the rules?
Criminal Orientations to Rationalize Behavior
In Confessions of a Dying Thief, Sam deploys well-developed accounts and
neutralizations to rationalize his crime. As explained on page 347, this behavior proves that Sam
has a conscience that needs to be considered when analyzing his subjective availability.
Furthermore, he has some sort of moral code (as most criminals do), and he responds to
powerful pressures for conformity that inhere in the larger society. However, as discussed in
the previous section, Sam also had a strong personal commitment to his criminal enterprise.
Thus, he had to mediate a conflict between the pressure to conform and his innate desire and
enjoyment of committing crimes.
Sam hardly ever employed neutralizations for his actions. Pre-behavior rhetorical
justification just was not necessary for him, considering that he hardly thought of the
repercussions of his crimes while he was committing them. Rather, Sam tended to account for
most of the rank shit he did in his life. As page 352 explains, At the end of his life, Sam had
more time and motivation to further develop and elaborate his apologia. In terms of the five
techniques of neutralizations/accounts that Matza and Sykes proposed in 1957, Sam most often
employed three: condemning the condemners, the denial of a victim, and the denial of

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responsibility. Outside of Matza and Sykes work, Sam additionally exemplifies the metaphor
of the ledger that Klockers hypothesized in The Professional Fence (1974).
Sam condemns the condemners through his accounts, insisting that what he was doing
was not out of place. Quotes such as most people have larceny in their heart and you have
people that have property or money, and you have people that want to take it generalizes Sams
individual actions as a part of a collective norm. However, this is simply not the case. Sam
claims to operate in a practical world, not an idealistic one, and this is obvious through his
collective, pessimistic rhetoric. Hes very socially darwinistic, believing wholeheartedly that if
he was not fencing or burglarizing, somebody else would be. This account allowed Sam to
explain his actions as okay, not good, which was seemingly enough for him on his death
bed. Additionally, as explained on page 355, in The Fence, he especially singles out those who
knowingly purchased the stolen goods Sam provided, citing that they are as guilty as the ones
who steal. Sam takes the criminal lifestyle and widens it to become much more expansive, thus
allowing him to see himself as a small cog in an inevitably large machine. This account attempts
to minimize Sams moral responsibility and is a post hoc rationalization on his accord.
Additionally, Sam denies that there were legitimate victims to his fencing activities. As
for burglary, Sam cannot use this account, but it works seamlessly for fencing, because as Sam
explains, fencing stolen goods did not harm people directly; rather, his fencing role occurred
after the goods were stolen. Simply put, he was just buying and selling product like any other
businessman. Additionally, he minimized his victims in the same way that he minimized his
moral responsibility. To Sam, those who lost money from his actions were not seriously harmed
by it, and could recover losses from insurance or tax write-offs.

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The denial of responsibility was directly related to Sams denial of a victim. This idea
also plays into his condemning of the condemners. If Sam didnt purchase the stolen goods that
he did, some other subjectively available criminal would, so he may as well be the one to profit
from it. Sam was formerly a burglar, and disproves the hypothesis that fences provide a demand
for stolen goods that burglars simply supply. The way Sam saw it, burglars were innately bad
people who would always steal, and fences provided little to no direction for thieves, therefore
Sam was not responsible for the innate badness present in burglars.
Lastly, Sam often referred to the metaphor of the ledger. On page 356, we can see that
Sam rationalizes, I done a lot of wrong, but I done a lot of good, too. You can see the good
that Sam claims to have done in the way he empathizes with underprivileged children. He
speaks of the Beck boys, two of his burglars, on page 322, saying [they] were a nuisance but I
am feeling sorry for themwould always give them a job to do, so they didnt learn to get
something for nothing. He treated these boys humanely, mostly because he empathized with
their situation. He did not use them as neutralizations to continue his criminal behavior, or to
continue to urge them to rob at the time, he did not think too much of it. However, post hoc, it
was easy and convenient for Sam to return to these boys and his treatment of them as a point of
pride.
As explained in Confessions of a Dying Thief, and mentioned previously, the root of
Sams accounts come from a more realistic/pessimistic approach to the human condition rather
than an idealistic one. Sam was not committed to the opportunists and the criminal lifestyle in
the same sense that a member of a gang would be. Sam is more committed to a conventional
lifestyle than a criminal one, but finds it easier to respond to his criminal behavior through the
context of everyday life. Sams accounts pose the following questions: why does Sam not feel

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the same appeal to higher loyalties that other criminals feel? Are the techniques of neutralization
universal, or do they greatly vary depending on the crime? Can criminals of the same field (i.e.,
fencing) greatly vary in their neutralizations? Are neutralizations more strongly correlated with
traits such as personality, or are they more strongly correlated with a specific type of crime?
Burglary and Business: The Relationship Between Illegitimate and Legitimate Enterprise
Sam had a remarkable way of keeping his cool. He completely removed his emotions
from his criminal and legitimate dealings, a trait desirable on both ends. As a criminal, Sam cites
on page 369 that this was necessary to be a successful fence, or even a good burglar. As a
businessperson, I can speak from personal experience in saying that it is necessary to make good
business deals. Sam did not become wrapped up in bias and other cognitive limitations that can
prevent good sense-making. Rather, Sam was largely apathetic to both his criminal and
conventional counterparts. This is best exemplified in his quote on page 369, When I was
growing up, if something said Im gonna cut your motherfucking throat, I would have said, get
it on.
In addition to his hardline approach to life, Sam was also highly specialized in both of his
fields fencing and antique business. When he went to prison after his ordeal in American City,
Sam spent an incredible amount of time reading about the value of antiques. This gave him the
technical knowledge to not only operate as a legitimate businessman, but to also operate as a
fence, buying warm goods from known burglars. Additionally, Sam put an incredible amount
of effort into both his criminal and conventional lifestyles. He was a very hard worker. This is
illustrated on page 149, where same explains, [I] was a ball buster. I was always on the go.
Getting calls two, three oclock in the morningin my eye, the fence is a go-getter, more so than
most people. This exact work ethic is further seen in his legitimate dealings in Tylersville,

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where he worked harder on the upholstery sides of things, eventually landing himself legitimate
contracts wherein he could achieve conventional success doing upholstery work for a sole source
of demand.
Lastly, the most apparent skill that Sam possessed that benefitted both his criminal and
conventional dealings was the fact that he was great at social manipulation. This not only
allowed him to be an extensive networker, but more importantly, allowed him to protect himself
from snitches. As Ulmer states on page 134 of Confessions of a Dying Thief, For those with
whom the thief or illegal entrepreneur does business, reliability and trust are highly valued.
Sam knew this, and leveraged it in his criminal networks. As he described on page 120, My
thing was to limit the snitching by being a nice guy and their [partners, other criminals]
knowing that you can get rough. He also knew that the main thing is to have a good partner
one guy in whom you have a good deal of trust, have faith in." Criminal networks are like
conventional networks in that they are forms of social organization. As Sam progressed into
more legitimately-structured businesses, his network contacts with secondhand store owners, as
described on page 161, allowed for him to be either more profitable or more secure in his
dealings. Since some of what the secondhand dealers was buying came directly from thieves, it
helped to buy the goods from them, adding a layer of security between Sam and the crimes, even
if this method was less profitable. In his strictly legitimate business dealings, Sam needed
similar connections with cold goods in order to be profitable. Without extensive networks to
derive profitable product from, or contacts that required a heavy demand of upholstery, his
businesses would have never succeeded.
In Confessions of a Dying Thief, we saw two sides of Sam Goodman the legitimate
businessman and the professional fence. In some regards, skills from his criminal dealings

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greatly benefitted his entrepreneurial pursuits. However, not all of Sams skills translated. Sam
possessed an extensive knowledge of technical skills regarding burglarizing and fencing that
were completely irrelevant to antiques dealing. Additionally, his ability to handle criminal
disputes and problems via social manipulation and the use of force were not applicable in the
conventional world, because there, institutions such as the Better Business Bureau exist to solve
those problems. Sams experiences raise a few questions: what sorts of technical skills do other
types of crime entail? Is the applicability of the skills of a crime in relation to conventional
success greatly vary with the type of crime?
Conclusion
Sam Goodman presents an exemplary model for studying the criminology theories of
deviance we have learned throughout the course of the semester. As a template, Sam serves as
(formerly) living proof of social dynamics of theft, hustling, and illegal enterprise that we have
studied. His accounts of life as a professional criminal provide us direct insights on achieving
criminal status in the underworld, desistance in criminals over the life course, criminal
orientations rationalizing behavior, and the relationship between legal and illegal enterprise.
Sam and his behavior fit into the theories of opportunistic criminality, differential association,
social learning, and the techniques of neutralizations/accounts. However, Sams narrow
involvement in both fencing and burglary limits the evidence that he provides to these theories to
circumstantial, at best. Looking at the anecdotal evidence Sam presents, one cannot accurately
conclude the accuracy of these theories. In fact, when considering other facets of Sams
narrative, such as criminal desistance over the life course, one finds that Sam actually contradicts
some of the theory learned in class. His story presents a challenge to the traditional dichotomy
criminologists have long used to classify criminal desistance; you either desist, or you do not.

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Sam instead operates in his moonlight stage for years, even operating as a criminal on his
deathbed. The most significant takeaway from Confessions of a Dying Thief is this no matter
how generalized a criminal may be, there still may be some sort of contradiction between their
actions and criminological theory. Most crime is largely context-dependent, and in the case of
Sam Goodman, we see this contrast in the specialized nature of his fencing and how it is affected
over the life course.

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Sources
Akers, Ronald L. and Christine S. Sellers. Criminological Theories: Introduction, Evaluation,
and Application. Oxford University Press, Sixth Edition. New York, U.S.A. 2013.
Klockars, Carl B. The Professional Fence. Free Press, First Edition. 1974.
Ulmer, Jeffrey T. and Darrel J. Steffensmeier. Confessions of a Dying Thief. Transaction
Publishers, New Brunswick, U.S.A. 2009.