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Desistance in Perspective: Historical Work and the Identification of a Field of Study

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Desistance from Crime

Part of the book series: Palgrave's Frontiers in Criminology Theory ((FCRT))

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Abstract

Many scholars note that desistance from crime is a relatively recent area of focus for criminologists. Yet it is not the case that criminologists of yesteryear were unaware of age-related changes in crime in the past. They just did not refer to it as desistance. In this chapter, Rocque traces the history of desistance from crime (or more accurately, age and crime) research, beginning with Quetelet’s work in the early nineteenth century, up through the 1970s. The works of G. Stanley Hall, Cesare Lombroso, Charles Goring, Maurice Parmelee, Edwin Sutherland, and Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck among others is covered in Chapter 2. This historical foray into age and crime illustrates what criminologists and other social scientists knew about desistance prior to the term being used and the subsequent focus on desistance arising in criminology. In addition, this chapter also seeks to uncover the emergence of desistance as a term that indicates a decline in crime over time as well as in early theoretical accounts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cesare Lombroso, whom some consider as the founder of modern criminology, argued that certain criminals were born that way, having not proceeded as far as ‘normals’ along the evolutionary path. He called these born criminals ‘atavists’ (Gibson and Rafter 2006).

  2. 2.

    Some argue that Cesare Beccaria is the ‘father’ of criminology, but as Rafter (2011) points out, that makes little sense if we are to regard criminology as a science, which utilizes data to learn about the causes of crime.

  3. 3.

    Interested readers can search archive.org for pdfs of these now out-of-print texts.

  4. 4.

    While on parole, 55% of the women whose behavioral records were complete engaged in delinquency (Glueck and Glueck 1934/1965).

  5. 5.

    The Gluecks found some degree of reform for their female sample but did not follow-up these women as long as they did the other three samples.

  6. 6.

    Search conducted on July 18, 2015.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA

    Michael Rocque

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  1. Michael Rocque
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Rocque, M. (2017). Desistance in Perspective: Historical Work and the Identification of a Field of Study. In: Desistance from Crime. Palgrave's Frontiers in Criminology Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57234-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57234-9_2

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