Understanding Desistance from Crime
| Title: | Understanding Desistance from Crime |
| Author: |
Sampson, Robert; Laub, John
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors. |
| Citation: | Laub, John H., and Robert J. Sampson. 2001. Understanding desistance from crime. Crime and Justice 28: 1-69 |
| Full Text & Related Files: |
Sampson_UnderstandingDesistance.pdf (7.165Mb; PDF) 
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| Abstract: | The study of desistance from crime is hampered by definitional, measurement, and theoretical incoherence. A unifying framework can distinguish termination of offending from the process of desistance. Termination is the point when criminal activity stops and desistance is the underlying causal process. A small number of factors are sturdy correlates of desistance (e.g., good marriages, stable work, transformation of identity, and aging). The processes of desistance from crime and other forms of problem behavior appear to be similar. Several theoretical frameworks can be employed to explain the process of desistance, including maturation and aging, developmental, life-course, rational choice, and social learning theories. A life-course perspective provides the most compelling framework, and it can be used to identify institutional sources of desistance and the dynamic social processes inherent in stopping crime. |
| Published Version: | http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=34093 |
| Other Sources: | http://www.jstor.org/stable/1147672 |
| Terms of Use: | This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#LAA |
| Citable link to this page: | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3226958 |
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FAS Scholarly Articles [5133]
Peer reviewed scholarly articles from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University
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