Desistance from crime by young adult persistent offenders
This article addresses three characteristic aspects of the process of desistance from crime by young adult persistent offenders: love and romantic relations, the parents, and human agency of the young adult. These aspects are studied in discussion with the theories of Sampson and Laub, Maruna, and Paternoster and Bushway. Our perspective is inspired by the findings from a small, qualitative study that we carried out from 2009 till 2011 in the Nederlands. With the Von Gluecks and with Bottoms we conclude that it is crucial that these young men realize that they become grown up, mature and to old for this kind of life. We introduce the notion of ‘emerging adulthood’, developed by Jeffrey Arnett, and we point to new insights from recent brainresearch to understand the process of desistance from crime by young adult offenders.