ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the form of ambivalence that is likely to occur as the offender approaches, and subsequently enters, the stage of adulthood, or the social role of the adult. It briefly describes the context of the Sweden and its penal climate, with a specific focus on drug use, before introducing the Stockholm Life-Course Project (SLCP). The qualitative, thematic analysis makes use of qualitative life history interviews conducted within The Stockholm Life-Course Project (SLCP), a longitudinal research project on criminal careers, persistence, and desistance. Criminal offending and its consequences often result in a process of cumulative disadvantage for the offender. Thus, somewhat ironically, the stage where the offender often begins to consider desistance and conventional life as an alternative to crime and drug use also tends to be the very stage where desistance and conventional life becomes more difficult to achieve and maintain, giving rise to experiences of ambivalence.
