Desistance
- LAST REVIEWED: 21 April 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 14 December 2009
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0056
- LAST REVIEWED: 21 April 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 14 December 2009
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396607-0056
Introduction
In the field of criminology, desistance is generally defined as the cessation of offending or other antisocial behavior. However, researchers have not reached a consensus on the definition of desistance. Various authors have pointed out the shortcomings of a dichotomous definition of desistance, and some have suggested instead that a process view of desistance may provide a more accurate picture of the concept. Although desistance has become an increasingly popular research topic in recent years, it has been argued that the state of knowledge on this topic is still relatively limited. More specifically, it has been suggested that very little is known about the causal processes underlying desistance.
General Overviews
Desistance is one of the central dimensions of life-course criminology, and it is also regarded as a criminal career parameter. While few texts have focused solely on the topic of desistance, sources on developmental, life-course, and criminal career research often include a segment on desistance. Sampson and Laub 1993 and Laub and Sampson 2003 are essential readings in the area of desistance. The authors present findings from their follow-up of the males involved in the Gluecks’ original study (Glueck and Glueck 1950). LeBlanc and Fréchette 1989 investigates various criminal career parameters, including de-escalation and desistance, in their analysis of offending across the life-course for two samples of adjudicated and representative French-Canadian males. Maruna 2001 reports results from the Liverpool Desistance Study, a follow-up study of desisting former offenders and persisting offenders. This text offers a qualitative analysis of the desistance process among a group of formerly incarcerated individuals. Ezell and Cohen 2005 addresses various key questions raised by desistance researchers and conducts thorough analyses using the California Youth Authority data to elucidate some of these important issues. One of the most comprehensive reviews of the desistance literature can be found in Laub and Sampson 2001. The authors highlight the limitations of past studies on desistance, provide an overview of the theoretical frameworks developed to explain desistance, and report empirical findings on the predictors of desistance.
Ezell, Michael E., and Lawrence E. Cohen. 2005. Desisting from crime: Continuity and change in long-term crime patterns of serious chronic offenders. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
An analysis of three samples of high-rate offenders under the jurisdiction of the California Youth Authority. Addresses many key questions in desistance research, such as individual distributions of the age-crime curve, and the degree of stability and change in offending behavior across time.
Glueck, Sheldon, and Eleanor Glueck. 1950. Unraveling juvenile delinquency. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.
One of the classic studies on life-course offending. Initiated in 1939, this study involved a follow-up of five hundred adjudicated and five hundred representative males from the Boston area. Information was collected through official records, self-reports, and teacher and parent reports.
Laub, John H., and Robert J. Sampson. 2001. Understanding desistance from crime. In Crime and justice: A review of research. Vol. 28. Edited by Michael Tonry, 1–69. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
A comprehensive review of the desistance literature, with a discussion of various theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues relevant to this topic. Includes an overview of the theoretical frameworks developed to explain desistance. Can be used in criminology and criminal justice courses, particularly at the graduate level.
Laub, John H., and Robert J. Sampson. 2003. Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
The second major reanalysis of the Glueck and Glueck 1950 data, including a longer follow-up of the study participants, an investigation of the trajectories of offending, and a focus on the issue of prediction.
LeBlanc, Marc, and Marcel Fréchette. 1989. Male criminal activity from childhood through youth: Multilevel and developmental perspectives. New York: Springer-Verlag.
The first major English-language text reporting results from the Montreal Two Samples Longitudinal Study. With straightforward analyses, this text is suitable for courses and researchers of all levels. While it is somewhat outdated (a revised edition is in progress), the key concepts relating to the explanation of desistance are consistent.
Maruna, Shadd. 2001. Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
A qualitative analysis of the desistance process among a sample of Liverpool males. Examines the narratives of “desisting” and “persisting” offenders. This source makes important contributions to the desistance literature, and it is written in a manner that is appropriate for students and researchers of all levels.
National Research Council, Committee on Community Supervision and Desistance from Crime. 2007. Parole, desistance from crime, and community reintegration. Washington, DC: National Academies.
A review of current reentry practices, resources, and services available to formerly incarcerated individuals. A discussion of some of the major limitations of research on parole, desistance, and reintegration is presented, including shortcomings relating to parole heterogeneity, intervention effects, and methodological flaws. The report offers recommendations for policy and research.
Sampson, Robert J., and John H. Laub. 1993. Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
The first major reanalysis of the Glueck and Glueck 1950 data, with a particular emphasis on the role of social bonds in the explanation of crime and desistance. Appropriate for specialized graduate courses on life-course or criminal career research that also address the topic of desistance, as well as for new and experienced researchers in the area.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Active Offender Research
- Actus Reus
- Adler, Freda
- Adversarial System of Justice
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Aging Prison Population, The
- Airport and Airline Security
- Alcohol and Drug Prohibition
- Alcohol Use, Policy and Crime
- Alt-Right Gangs and White Power Youth Groups
- Animals, Crimes Against
- Anomie
- Arson
- Art Crime
- Back-End Sentencing and Parole Revocation
- Bail and Pretrial Detention
- Batterer Intervention Programs
- Bentham, Jeremy
- Big Data and Communities and Crime
- Biosocial Criminology
- Blackmail
- Black's Theory of Law and Social Control
- Blumstein, Alfred
- Boot Camps and Shock Incarceration Programs
- Burglary, Residential
- Bystander Intervention
- Capital Punishment
- Chambliss, William
- Chicago School of Criminology, The
- Child Maltreatment
- Chinese Triad Society
- Civil Protection Orders
- Collateral Consequences of Felony Conviction and Imprisonm...
- Collective Efficacy
- Commercial and Bank Robbery
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Communicating Scientific Findings in the Courtroom
- Community Change and Crime
- Community Corrections
- Community Disadvantage and Crime
- Community-Based Justice Systems
- Community-Based Substance Use Prevention
- Comparative Criminal Justice Systems
- CompStat Models of Police Performance Management
- Confessions, False and Coerced
- Conservation Criminology
- Consumer Fraud
- Contextual Analysis of Crime
- Control Balance Theory
- Convict Criminology
- Co-Offending and the Role of Accomplices
- Corporate Crime
- Costs of Crime and Justice
- Courts, Drug
- Courts, Juvenile
- Courts, Mental Health
- Courts, Problem-Solving
- Crime and Justice in Latin America
- Crime, Campus
- Crime Control Policy
- Crime Control, Politics of
- Crime, (In)Security, and Islam
- Crime Prevention, Delinquency and
- Crime Prevention, Situational
- Crime Prevention, Voluntary Organizations and
- Crime Trends
- Crime Victims' Rights Movement
- Criminal Career Research
- Criminal Decision Making, Emotions in
- Criminal Justice Data Sources
- Criminal Justice Ethics
- Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
- Criminal Justice Reform, Politics of
- Criminal Justice System, Discretion in the
- Criminal Records
- Criminal Retaliation
- Criminal Talk
- Criminology and Political Science
- Criminology of Genocide, The
- Critical Criminology
- Cross-National Crime
- Cross-Sectional Research Designs in Criminology and Crimin...
- Cultural Criminology
- Cultural Theories
- Cybercrime
- Cybercrime Investigations and Prosecutions
- Cycle of Violence
- Day Fines
- Deadly Force
- Defining "Success" in Corrections and Reentry
- Desistance
- Deterrence
- Developmental and Life-Course Criminology
- Digital Piracy
- Driving and Traffic Offenses
- Drug Control
- Drug Trafficking, International
- Drugs and Crime
- Elder Abuse
- Electronically Monitored Home Confinement
- Employee Theft
- Environmental Crime and Justice
- Experimental Criminology
- Extortion
- Family Violence
- Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk
- Felon Disenfranchisement
- Femicide
- Feminist Theories
- Feminist Victimization Theories
- Fencing and Stolen Goods Markets
- Firearms and Violence
- Forensic Science
- For-Profit Private Prisons and the Criminal Justice–Indust...
- Fraud
- Gambling
- Gangs, Peers, and Co-offending
- Gender and Crime
- Gendered Crime Pathways
- General Opportunity Victimization Theories
- Genetics, Environment, and Crime
- Green Criminology
- Halfway Houses
- Harm Reduction and Risky Behaviors
- Hate Crime
- Hate Crime Legislation
- Healthcare Fraud
- Hirschi, Travis
- History of Crime in the United Kingdom
- History of Criminology
- Homelessness and Crime
- Homicide
- Homicide Victimization
- Honor Cultures and Violence
- Hot Spots Policing
- Human Rights
- Human Trafficking
- Identity Theft
- Immigration, Crime, and Justice
- Incarceration, Mass
- Incarceration, Public Health Effects of
- Income Tax Evasion
- Indigenous Criminology
- Institutional Anomie Theory
- Integrated Theory
- Intermediate Sanctions
- Interpersonal Violence, Historical Patterns of
- Interrogation
- Intimate Partner Violence, Criminological Perspectives on
- Intimate Partner Violence, Police Responses to
- Investigation, Criminal
- Juvenile Delinquency
- Juvenile Justice System, The
- Kidnapping
- Kornhauser, Ruth Rosner
- Labeling Theory
- Labor Markets and Crime
- Land Use and Crime
- Lead and Crime
- Legitimacy
- LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence
- LGBTQ People in Prison
- Life Without Parole Sentencing
- Local Institutions and Neighborhood Crime
- Lombroso, Cesare
- Longitudinal Research in Criminology
- Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
- Mapping and Spatial Analysis of Crime, The
- Mass Media, Crime, and Justice
- Measuring Crime
- Mediation and Dispute Resolution Programs
- Mental Health and Crime
- Merton, Robert K.
- Meta-analysis in Criminology
- Middle-Class Crime and Criminality
- Migrant Detention and Incarceration
- Money Laundering
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Multi-Level Marketing Scams
- Murder, Serial
- Narrative Criminology
- National Deviancy Symposia, The
- Nature Versus Nurture
- Neighborhood Disorder
- Neutralization Theory
- New Penology, The
- Offender Decision-Making and Motivation
- Offense Specialization/Expertise
- Organized Crime
- Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs
- Panel Methods in Criminology
- Peacemaking Criminology
- Peer Networks and Delinquency
- Performance Measurement and Accountability Systems
- Personality and Trait Theories of Crime
- Persons with a Mental Illness, Police Encounters with
- Phenomenological Theories of Crime
- Plea Bargaining
- Poaching
- Police Administration
- Police Cooperation, International
- Police Discretion
- Police Effectiveness
- Police History
- Police Militarization
- Police Misconduct
- Police, Race and the
- Police Use of Force
- Police, Violence against the
- Policing and Law Enforcement
- Policing, Body-Worn Cameras and
- Policing, Broken Windows
- Policing, Community and Problem-Oriented
- Policing Cybercrime
- Policing, Evidence-Based
- Policing, Intelligence-Led
- Policing, Privatization of
- Policing, Proactive
- Policing, School
- Policing, Stop-and-Frisk
- Policing, Third Party
- Polyvictimization
- Positivist Criminology
- Pretrial Detention, Alternatives to
- Pretrial Diversion
- Prison Administration
- Prison Classification
- Prison, Disciplinary Segregation in
- Prison Education Exchange Programs
- Prison Gangs and Subculture
- Prison History
- Prison Labor
- Prison Visitation
- Prisoner Reentry
- Prisons and Jails
- Prisons, HIV in
- Private Security
- Probation Revocation
- Procedural Justice
- Property Crime
- Prosecution and Courts
- Prostitution
- Psychiatry, Psychology, and Crime: Historical and Current ...
- Psychology and Crime
- Public Criminology
- Public Opinion, Crime and Justice
- Public Order Crimes
- Public Social Control and Neighborhood Crime
- Punishment Justification and Goals
- Qualitative Methods in Criminology
- Queer Criminology
- Race and Sentencing Research Advancements
- Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice
- Racial Threat Hypothesis
- Racial Profiling
- Rape and Sexual Assault
- Rape, Fear of
- Rational Choice Theories
- Rehabilitation
- Religion and Crime
- Restorative Justice
- Risk Assessment
- Routine Activity Theories
- School Bullying
- School Crime and Violence
- School Safety, Security, and Discipline
- Search Warrants
- Seasonality and Crime
- Self-Control, The General Theory:
- Self-Report Crime Surveys
- Sentencing Enhancements
- Sentencing, Evidence-Based
- Sentencing Guidelines
- Sentencing Policy
- Sex Crimes
- Sex Offender Policies and Legislation
- Sex Trafficking
- Sexual Revictimization
- Situational Action Theory
- Snitching and Use of Criminal Informants
- Social and Intellectual Context of Criminology, The
- Social Construction of Crime, The
- Social Control of Tobacco Use
- Social Control Theory
- Social Disorganization
- Social Ecology of Crime
- Social Learning Theory
- Social Networks
- Social Threat and Social Control
- Solitary Confinement
- South Africa, Crime and Justice in
- Sport Mega-Events Security
- Stalking and Harassment
- State Crime
- State Dependence and Population Heterogeneity in Theories ...
- Strain Theories
- Street Code
- Street Robbery
- Substance Use and Abuse
- Surveillance, Public and Private
- Sutherland, Edwin H.
- Technology and the Criminal Justice System
- Technology, Criminal Use of
- Terrorism
- Terrorism and Hate Crime
- Terrorism, Criminological Explanations for
- Testimony, Eyewitness
- Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- Trajectory Methods in Criminology
- Transnational Crime
- Truth-In-Sentencing
- Urban Politics and Crime
- US War on Terrorism, Legal Perspectives on the
- Victimization, Adolescent
- Victimization, Biosocial Theories of
- Victimization Patterns and Trends
- Victimization, Repeat
- Victimization, Vicarious and Related Forms of Secondary Tr...
- Victimless Crime
- Victim-Offender Overlap, The
- Violence Against Women
- Violence, Youth
- Violent Crime
- White-Collar Crime
- White-Collar Crime, The Global Financial Crisis and
- White-Collar Crime, Women and
- Wilson, James Q.
- Wolfgang, Marvin
- Women, Girls, and Reentry
- Wrongful Conviction