ABSTRACT
A person’s gradual decrease of offending was labelled by criminologists during the early 1980s as “desistance from crime” which is regarded as the long-term abstinence from criminal activity. I argue that desistance is much more than this which includes components of non-crime-related processes such as identity transformation. As mentioned in the first chapter, my very first attempt to turn my life around was after my first prison sentence in 1985 when I returned home to Middlesbrough and began leading a very stable life. I was keen on running and weight training which I did several times a week and helped me psychologically and something I continue to do today. The benefits of health and fitness on mental health was a huge topic during the coronavirus lockdown but it was something I discovered in the late 1970s after I had read in a book that running alleviates depression. And 45 years later, I am still a keen runner taking part in marathons and other distances on a regular basis.
