Moving on from Crime and Substance Use: Transforming Identities

Desistance is one of the big news stories of the criminological world. Research suggests that, as ‘offenders’ turn their backs on crime, they often change their identities as well as their behaviour. Yet we know much less about how reforming or transforming identity might be affected by gender, age or ethnicity.

This book focuses on diversity and showcases research from a wide range of authors in the field. It considers the similarities and differences between desisting from crime and recovering from addiction. Taking the desistance and recovery debates in unfamiliar directions, it examines the experiences of change for individuals seeking healthier and more successful futures.

Anne Robinson is a principal lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and leads the programme for qualifying probation officers. She previously worked in the probation service and as a manager in youth justice. She is author of Foundations for Offender Management: Theory, Law and Policy for Contemporary Practice and Foundations for Youth Justice: Positive Approaches to Practice, as well as co-editor and contributor to Values in Criminology and Criminal Justice (all published by Policy Press).

Paula Hamilton is a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University where she leads the desistance-focused strand of teaching on the programme for qualifying probation officers. She previously worked in the probation service and then taught on the B.A. Community Justice at Manchester University. With Dr Kathy Albertson, she has written about the ethical and value issues raised in narrative inquiry in Values in Criminology and Community Justice published by Policy Press.