ABSTRACT
The study of desistance from crime is concerned with how and why individuals stop offending. Early desistance work emphasized the specific correlates of desistance from crime. As a result, ageing, gaining employment and forming romantic partnerships have all been identified as important for desistance. The power of employment and partnerships in their ability to inspire desistance was often explained as result of the changes they heralded in routine activities of offenders or the increased social control that engagement with these opportunities implied. The study of desistance is concerned not only with change over time, but also individuals' understanding of such change. Desistance research has progressed steadily since the mid-1980s. More recent efforts have argued for making criminal justice interventions and offender supervision in particular more desistance focused. In addition, desistance research has indicated the role that seemingly small interventions can make in the lives of offenders.
