ABSTRACT
Longitudinal, survey, and qualitative research have repeatedly demonstrated that a large proportion of adolescents who commit illegal acts (and who might subsequently become involved with the juvenile justice system) curtail or stop offending as they enter adulthood (e.g., Glueck and Glueck 1950; Wolfgang et al. 1972; Loeber et al. 1991; Piquero et al. 2003; Thornberry et al. 2012). This straightforward observation has spawned an increasingly complex body of research on the dynamics of “desistance” from crime or antisocial behavior (Laub and Boonstoppel 2011) as well as novel methodological and analytical approaches to address this question (e.g., Nagin 2005). The energy behind these developments comes largely from the considerable potential of this line of investigation for expanding both the theoretical lens applied to antisocial behavior and the practical applications to reduce the harmful effects of these behaviors.
