ABSTRACT
Pathways to desistance are rarely linear or straightforward but are better described as tumultuous, dynamic and uncertain. In the author's view, desistance was linked to the acquisition of social bonds during the transition to adulthood. Self-control theorists do not recognise the role that adult life events and wider social circumstances can play in criminal behaviour. Furthermore, the theory cannot account for other, more recently documented, subjective aspects of desistance, such as identity change. In their theory of cognitive transformation, Giordano, Cernkovich and Rudolph assigned weights to the various cognitive and social processes behind desistance. While important, the influence of the criminal justice system operates at the periphery of desistance while subjective, social and individual factors play a more central role. It is better to view reintegration as a long-term process rather than the outcome of a single intervention.
