Desistance from Offending in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

After decades of relative obscurity, research on desistance from offending has experienced an exponential, and much warranted, escalation in attention. This precipitous growth is motivated by the timely alignment of theory, data, and method that characterized the opening of the twenty-first century. Despite the growth of the field, fundamental questions remain. This chapter provides a focused review of key twenty-first-century theoretical and methodological developments on desistance as well as a pointed discussion of critical issues. After outlining the current definitions and longitudinal trends of desistance, we discuss contemporary theories and the studies that inform these theories. We use an organizational schema situating theories in terms of the primacy with which they place structural opportunities or subjective motivations in their explanations of the transition away from offending. We conclude by presenting avenues for advancing research in the areas of definitions, theoretical testing, and bridging the research-policy divide.

Being Willing but Not Able: Echoes of Intimate Partner Violence as a Hindrance in Women’s Desistance from Crime

“…To buy the heroin, she also relapsed into theft, and she was subsequently caught with stolen goods worth a total of 10,000 SEK. 5 This relapse occurred after she had felt her progress had stalled. As such, it is an example of how repeated goal failures led her to a state of hopelessness (cf.…”

“…This body of research highlights how certain events, such as getting married, obtaining employment, or stable housing, can present turning points in a criminal lifestyle. Such events offer changes in social control, routine activities, and the individual willingness to change conceptualized as agency [5,20,27,38,53,55,57].…”

“…The choice of using abuse or use of drugs is dependent on how the women frame their drug intake 5. Approximately 1200 US dollars.…”

Fearful futures and haunting histories in women's desistance from crime: A longitudinal study of desistance as an uncanny process*

“…Although desistance is increasingly recognized as complex processes by which individuals transform from offenders to non‐offenders, few desistance scholars have studied this process in‐depth (Bersani & Doherty, 2018; Broidy & Cauffman, 2017). In recent years, however, some scholars have begun to explore how desistance is a process rife with setbacks and struggles (Halsey et al., 2016).…”

“…The amount of research on desistance from crime is expanding. Although the meaning of the term “desistance” has been widely debated (Halsey & Deegan, 2015; Rodermond, Kruttschnitt, Slotboom, & Bijleveld, 2016), desistance is increasingly recognized as complex processes by which individuals transform from offenders into nonoffenders (Bersani & Doherty, 2018; Broidy & Cauffman, 2017). This is especially the case in qualitative desistance research, in which scholars are mainly concerned with how individuals reform, reshape, and make sense of their lives and their concepts of self (see, e.g., Maruna, 2001; Stone, 2016).…”