Abstract
Large-scale, longitudinal studies have identified important correlates of desistance, but, due to the nature of the inquiry, are limited in their ability to describe the mechanisms by which desistance occurs. For this type of explanation, more detailed and nuanced studies of desistance experiences and the meanings applied to them must be conducted. At this time, some of the most promising studies on the mechanisms of desistance are qualitative. They are commonly based upon retrospective narratives focused on the inter- and intrapersonal dynamics of desistance and on life circumstances. This chapter describes recent qualitative studies of desistance with a particular emphasis on how individuals change from offending to sustained, non-offending.
Twenty-nine recent studies were identified. The collection of studies represents a wide variety of samples with different research questions and definitions, and different study designs. Collectively, however, the studies show remarkable consistency in their results. The studies are divided into common groupings to allow the reader to compare and contrast similarly focused studies. Beginning with comprehensive studies, the sections include social structural issues, cognitions and identity transformation, relationships, and spirituality. Several studies focus on narrow populations, including the young, women (including female/male contrasts and women-only studies), and minority men. The section concludes with descriptions of studies of programs and practices on desistance.
The qualitative summaries confirmed the findings of existing research evidence on desistance, and shed light on processes and mechanisms that often go unexamined in quantitative research on desistance—agency/motivation and the psychological reorientation and reevaluation of relationships and life events. The themes identified in these summaries highlight a number of factors that, as reported by the research participants and observations of others, contribute to desistance—stable, meaningful, committed relationships (particularly with intimate partners and children); motivations and commitment to change; valued social roles and pro-social, structured activities; and psychological reorientation and reevaluation of criminal acts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
1 A revision of this paper is included in How offenders transform their lives Maruna et al., 2010.
References
Andrews, D., & Bonta, J. (1995). LSI-R: The Level of Service Inventory—Revised. Toronto, ON: Multi-Health Systems, Inc.
Andrews, D. A., Bonta, J., & Hoge, R. D. (1990). Classification for effective rehabilitation: Rediscovering psychology. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 17, 19–52.
Bushway, S., Piquero, A., Broidy, L., Cauffman, E., & Mazerolle, P. (2001). An empirical framework for studying desistance as a process. Criminology, 39(2), 491–515.
Byrne, C., & Trew, K. (2005). Crime orientations, social relations and involvement in crime: Patterns emerging from offenders’ accounts. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 44(2), 185–205.
Byrne, C. F., & Trew, K. J. (2008). Pathways through crime: The development of crime and desistance in the accounts of men and women offenders. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 47(3), 238–258.
Christian, J., Veysey, B. M., Herrschaft, B., & Tubman-Carbone, H. (2009). Moments of transformation: Formerly incarcerated individuals’ narratives of change. In B. M. Veysey, J. Christian, & D. J. Martinez (Eds.), How offenders transform their lives (pp. 12–29). London: Willan Press.
Farrall, S. (2002). Rethinking what works with offenders. Cullompton, UK: Willan.
Farrall, S., & Bowling, B. (1999). Structuration, human development and desistance from crime. British Journal of Criminology, 39, 253–268.
Farrall, S., & Calverly, A. (2006). Understanding desistance from crime. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Farrington, D. P. (1986). Age and crime. Crime and Justice, 7, 189–250.
Gadd, D., & Farrall, S. (2004). Criminal careers, desistance and subjectivity: Interpreting men’s narratives of change. Theoretical Criminology, 15(3), 123–156.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Holland, D. D. (2003). Changes in friendship relations over the life course: Implications for desistance from crime. Criminology, 41(2), 293–328.
Giordano, P. C., Cernkovich, S. A., & Rudolph, J. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107, 990–1064.
Giordano, P. C., Longmore, M. A., Schroeder, R. D., & Seffrin, P. M. (2008). A life-course perspective on spirituality and desistance from crime. Criminology, 46(1), 99–132.
Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. (1940). Juvenile delinquents grown up. New York: Commonwealth Fund.
Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990). A general theory of crime. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Guerino, P., Harrison, P.M., & Sabol, W.J. (2011). Prisoners in 2010. Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin (NCJ236096). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.
Haggard, U. A., Gumpert, C. H., & Grann, M. (2001). Against all odds: A qualitative follow-up study of high-risk violent offenders who were not reconvicted. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 16(10), 1048–1065.
Haigh, Y. (2009). Desistance from crime: Reflections on the transitional experiences of young people with a history of offending. Journal of Youth Studies, 12(3), 307–322.
Healy, D. (2010). The dynamics of desistance: Charting pathways through change. Cullompton, UK: Willan.
Herrschaft, B. A., Veysey, B. M., Tubman-Carbone, H. R., & Christian, J. (2009). Gender differences in the transformation narrative: Implications for revised reentry for female offenders. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 48(6), 463–482.
Hughes, M. (1998). Turning points in the lives of young inner-city men forgoing destructive criminal behaviors: A qualitative study. Social Work Research, 22(3), 143–151.
Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2001). Understanding desistance from crime. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice: A review of research (Vol. 28, pp. 1–69). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginning, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Leverentz, A. M. (2006). The love of a good man? Romantic relationships as a source of support or hindrance for female ex-offenders. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43(4), 459–488.
Martinez, D. J. (2009). Former prisoners, their family members, and the transformative potential of support. In B. M. Veysey, J. Christian, & D. J. Martinez (Eds.), How offenders transform their lives (pp. 56–71). London: Willan Press.
Maruna, S. (2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Maruna, S. (2004). Desistance from crime and explanatory style. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 20(2), 184–200.
Maruna, S., & Farrall, S. (2004). Desistance from crime: A theoretical reformulation. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 43, 171–194.
Maruna, S., LeBel, T., Mitchell, N., & Naples, M. (2004). Pygmalion in the reintegration process: Desistance from crime through the looking glass. Psychology, Crime and Law, 10(3), 271–281.
Maruna, S., LeBel, T., Mitchell, N., & Naples, M. (2010). Looking-glass identity transformation: Pygmalion and Golem in the reintegration process. In B. M. Veysey, J. Christian, & D. J. Martinez (Eds.), How offenders transform their lives. London: Willan Press.
McIvor, G., Murray, C., & Jamieson, J. (2004). Desistance from crime: Is it different for women and girls? In S. Maruna & R. Immarigeon (Eds.), After crime and punishment: Pathways to offender reintegration (pp. 181–197). Cullompton, UK: Willan.
Michalsen, V. (2011). Mothering as a life course transition: Do women go straight for their children? Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 50(6), 349–366.
Minton, T. D. (2011). Jail inmates at midyear: 2010-statistical tables. Bureau of Justice Statistics Statistical Tables (NCJ233431). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescent-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
Morash, M. (2009). Parole supervision, change in the self, and desistance from substance use and crime. In B. M. Veysey, J. Christian, & D. J. Martinez (Eds.), How offenders transform their lives (pp. 124–142). London: Willan Press.
Mulvey, E. P. (2011). Highlights from pathways to desistance: A longitudinal study of serious adolescent offenders. OJJDP Fact Sheet. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice.
Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., Fagan, J., Cauffman, E., Piquero, A. R., Chassin, L., Knight, G. P., Brame, R., Shubert, C. A., Heckler, T., & Losoya, S. H. (2004). Theory and research on desistance from antisocial behavior among serious adolescent offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 213–236.
Panuccio, E. A., Christian, J., Martinez, D. J., & Sullivan, M. L. (2012). Social support, motivation, and the process of juvenile reentry: An exploratory analysis of desistance. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 51(3), 135–160.
Pew Center on the States. (2008). One in 100: Behind bars in America. Washington, DC: The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Presser, L., & Kurth, S. (2009). ‘I got a quick tongue: Negotiating ex-convict identity in mixed company. In B. M. Veysey, J. Christian, & D. J. Martinez (Eds.), How offenders transform their lives (pp. 72–86). London: Willan Press.
Sommers, I., Baskin, D. R., & Fagan, J. (1994). Getting out of the life: Crime desistance by female street offenders. Deviant Behavior, 15, 125–149 (reprint [2004]).
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Schroeder, R. D., & Frana, J. F. (2009). Spirituality and religion, emotional coping, and criminal desistance: A qualitative study of men undergoing change. Sociological Spectrum, 29(6), 718–741.
Sommers, I., Baskin, D. R., & Fagan, J. (2004). Getting out of the life: Crime desistance by female street offenders. In M. Pogrebin (Ed.), About criminals: A view of the offender’s world (pp. 322–332). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Veysey, B. M., Heckman, J., Mazelis, R., Markoff, L., & Russell, L. (2006). It’s my time to live: Journeys to healing and recovery. Washington, DC: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services.
Walker, L. (2009). Modified restorative circles: A reintegration group planning process that promotes desistance. Contemporary Justice Review, 12, 419–431.
Webster, C., MacDonald, R., & Simpson, M. (2006). Predicting criminality? Risk factors, neighbourhood influence and desistance. Youth Justice, 6, 7–22.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Veysey, B.M., Martinez, D.J., Christian, J. (2013). “Getting Out:” A Summary of Qualitative Research on Desistance Across the Life Course. In: Gibson, C., Krohn, M. (eds) Handbook of Life-Course Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5112-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5113-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)