Understanding Desistance from Crime

TLDR

Desistance research suffers from definitional, measurement, and theoretical incoherence, with termination defined as the cessation of offending and desistance as the underlying causal process, and various theories—maturation, developmental, life‑course, rational choice, and social learning—attempt to explain it. The study proposes a unifying framework that separates the cessation of offending (termination) from the underlying process of desistance. Desistance is strongly linked to factors such as good marriages, stable employment, identity transformation, and aging, and a life‑course perspective best explains these dynamics by identifying institutional and social processes that facilitate stopping crime.

Abstract

The study of desistance from crime is hampered by definitional, measurement, and theoretical incoherence. A unifying framework can distinguish termination of offending from the process of desistance. Termination is the point when criminal activity stops and desistance is the underlying causal process. A small number of factors are sturdy correlates of desistance (e. g., good marriages, stable work, transformation of identity, and aging). The processes of desistance from crime and other forms of problem behavior appear to be similar. Several theoretical frameworks can be employed to explain the process of desistance, including maturation and aging, developmental, life-course, rational choice, and social learning theories. A life-course perspective provides the most compelling framework, and it can be used to identify institutional sources of desistance and the dynamic social processes inherent in stopping crime.