HOPE probation: A new path to desistance?

Abstract

This article seeks to understand Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) program through a desistance framework. The article commences with a brief overview of the literature on desistance and HOPE. It then explains how HOPE works. The main section of the paper describes observations of HOPE in action and the extent to which these align with McNeill et al.’s (2012) eight principles of desistance. The paper concludes with some observations on the HOPE program as a pathway towards hope, desistance and the promise of better communities.