Treatment of Sex Offenders

13 Desistance from Crime: Toward an Integrated Conceptualization for Intervention
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about other aspects of offending (e.g., acceleration, deceleration). Offending trajectories
inform about possible patterns of desistance but this perspective, while informative
about long-term patterns, is somewhat limited when it comes to short-term
predictions and interventions. Together, these viewpoints provide a more complete
conceptualization of desistance from crime. As argued in this chapter, desistance is
not a random process. It is relatively bounded to the precocity and the level of prior
involvement in crime and delinquency. Of importance, offending trajectories characterized
by a distinct pattern of desistance in terms of timing, deceleration and probabilities
of reoffending have been identified. Clearly, therefore, the phenomenon of
desistance from crime is diverse and complex and should be understood as being
multifaceted involving multiple pathways. Desistance is best described as a process
possibly involving a series of lapses and relapses. From this viewpoint, the presence
of lapses and relapses highlight the limitation of a crude offending descriptor such as
being a “recidivist.” The developmental perspective suggests that this process
involves deceleration and de-escalation of offending until termination. Deceleration
is intrinsically related to the velocity of offending prior to the start of deceleration of
offending. In other words, the more important and serious offending becomes, the
longer the desistance phase will be. Considering the range of offending trajectories
found for individuals involved in sexual offenses, this process is likely to be relatively
short and abrupt for some and slow and gradual for others. Desistance implies
the probability of maintaining a non-offending state over time. Recidivism studies
have been insightful with respect to the presence of much heterogeneity as to the risk
of recidivism at any given time across offenders. Young adult offenders who have
maintained a non-offending state are among those most likely to move back to an
offending state. Even in the presence of protective factors promoting the deceleration
of offending in place, negative life events (e.g., alcohol/drug use, financial difficulties,
significant interpersonal conflicts, and negative mood) may favor the movement
away from a non-offending state back to an offending state. Given the heterogeneity
in the probabilities of offending in adulthood and that these probabilities are not
static, but dynamic and subject to several factors starting with the process of aging.
In other words, with age, the probabilities of a relapse decrease. Finally, termination
of offending or the maintenance of a non- offending state over time may be difficult
to achieve for those whose prior offending involvement is more frequent, where the
deceleration has not started, and the probabilities of reoffending remain relatively
high. Taken together, this proposed unified concept of desistance encompasses the
combination of population heterogeneity and state-dependent processes.
For the last three decades, policy development in the area of sexual violence and
abuse has been limited to environment-focused interventions and measures to deter
individuals from sexually reoffending (Lussier, Gress, Deslauriers-Varin, &
Amirault, 2014 ). The sexual offender registry, public notification, denying/limiting
parole, intensive supervision, and home residency restrictions are examples of
risk-focused interventions that have little to do with desistance as it is currently
understood from available research. In fact, Shover and Henderson ( 1995 ) have
argued that crime control policies need not be only focused on deterrence and the
threat of punishment, but also on increasing legitimate opportunities as increased