Dynamics of Desistance

Deirdre Healy is an IRCHSS Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Criminology, University College Dublin. She is currently conducting the Crime, Desistance and Reintegration Study which will provide a detailed account of pathways to (and from) desistance, and aims to identify the psychological and social processes involved in these transitions.

• 1. Desistance and Reintegration  2. Issues and Challenges  3. Person and Place  4. Thinking, Attitudes and Social Circumstances  5. Multiple Roads to Desistance  6. Into the Crucible  7. A Catalyst for Change?  8. Looking Forward  9. Betwixt and Between

'A de-escalation of offending behaviour illustrates perfectly how desistance is often located between offending and non-offending. But to comprehend how offenders arrive at this ambiguous state may require more than a retrospective study; it may, as Healy herself recognises, be necessary to 'document the process of reform as it happens' (p. 172). If future researchers on desistance take these steps, in Healy's study they have a wonderful resource on which they can build.' – Barry Vaughan, Policy Anayst, National Economic and Social Council, Dublin in The Howard Journal Vol 50 No 1. February 2011'This book is an early contribution to a very welcome series, which aims to support critical debate and discussion around desistance and rehabilitation.''...helpful and productive...will be of interest to, and will reward the effort of, a broader range of readers...''The author's style of writing is clear and easy to understand and I found her explanation of concepts at the beginning of the book, her detailed account of her findings, clearly related to that early explanation and her pulling together of key issues at the end, to be full of useful detail. She doesn't serve up glib or easy answers, but does provide a rich seam, both of thinking and of evidence...'-Bernadette Wilkinson KWP, Independent Trainer and Consultant in Criminal Justice