An Integrative Approach to Successful Desistance

Abstract

. Desistance not only denotes the cessation or absence of criminal behavior but also includes a continuously decreasing tendency in offence frequency and seriousness, thus enabling experts to study the entire process up to the very point of giving up delinquency altogether. Domestic as well as international literature and the bulk of the relevant studies have been focusing on the underlying causes of criminal activity, overlooking the factors facilitating the abandonment of the criminal career. However, unlike the former, desistance research is centered on factors that contribute to leaving criminal life behind. Criminological literature distinguishes between two large groups of factors that are at play in the process of desistance, i.e. structural and psychological factors. Taking cognizance of the limitations inherent in unilateral approaches, the vast majority of contemporary researchers endorse an integrative approach since it is obvious that social, environmental, and psychological factors each have their own influence on desistance.