Social structures and desistance from crime

Abstract

Desistance studies have routinely focused on issues such as family links, employment prospects and moving away from criminal friends, but they have said less about the meso- and macro-level structural issues that might facilitate or impede the transition of ex-offenders to the status of more mainstream members of civil society.Yet, in view of the necessary interaction between agency and structure in producing processes of desistance, a consideration of social structures (and the implications of changes in structures) is clearly of some importance. This paper addresses these issues, with special reference to recent structural changes in the UK in the fields of employment, families and housing, and criminal policy. The paper concludes with a discussion of conceptual foundations for social policy responses.