Dynamics of Desistance

<p>It is well-established that the majority of youth offenders cease to commit crime in early adulthood but the mechanisms behind the shift from a criminal to a conventional lifestyle are not fully understood. <em>The Dynamics of Desistance</em> aims to contribute to this nascent area of inquiry by providing a phenomenological account of the psychosocial processes involved in desistance from crime.</p><p>Drawing on a variety of methods including in-depth interviews with repeat offenders and their probation officers police records and psychometric scores this book charts the early stages of a journey taken by individuals who exist in the liminal space ‘betwixt and between’ crime and convention. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis is used to explore the shifts that occur in desisters’ minds and lives as they make the often turbulent transition to a crime-free life and the dynamic processes that occur at this psychosocial boundary are described.</p><p>The theoretical and practical implications of the findings in this book are explored in relation to key issues in desistance literature and as such this book provides a key resource for academics and students working with the area of probation as well as practitioners in involved in probation social work and parole supervision.</p>