ABSTRACT
In September 2014 in England, through an unintended juxtaposition of events, there occurred both the conference, which sparked this book, and the publication of some reflections on where the policy response to desistance is at in relation to England and Wales. In Sheffield, some of the world’s leading researchers on desistance gathered to share and debate their respective findings in a conference organised by the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield. Meanwhile, in London, the Criminal Justice Alliance for England and Wales1 published a short report entitled Prospects for a Desistance Agenda. That report summarised the views of some 20 interviewees, mostly from the worlds of politics and criminal justice management,2 in order to consider, from the point of view of policy and practice, ‘where desistance stands at present, the barriers that may limit its further progress, and the opportunities and risks afforded by current developments’. It concluded that there were indeed some, ‘barriers to the development of a desistance agenda, but also importantly causes for cautious optimism’ (Annison and Moffatt 2014: 3).
