Desistance is dead, long live desistance?: Can a 1990s theory be relevant for a world in crisis in 2025
Date
2025-05-15
Authors
Maruna, Shadd
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Abstract
Over the past three decades desistance from crime has become one of the most popular areas of study in criminology. Emerging out of life course and developmental criminology of the 1990s, the study of desistance stood in sharp contrast with the obsession in late 20th Century criminology in identifying “superpredators,” “psychopaths,” and other persistent or “career criminals.” Desistance research also challenged rehabilitation models and inspired strengths-based mutual aid work among people in prison and on probation. It was the right theory for the right moment in criminology in many ways. However, desistance research may have outlasted its relevance in the current political climate. As it became mainstreamed, desistance research has been rightly criticized for being too individualistic, ignoring the structural/political factors impacting individual journeys.