Growing Up and Out of Crime details how developmental norms and expectations for young people aged 18-25 have diverged from previous generations, shifting the role of maturation that prompts us to examine if and how this maturation can influence desistance from crime.
Developmental norms and expectations for young people aged 18–25 have diverged from previous generations, shifting the role of maturation that prompts us to examine if and how this maturation can influence desistance from crime.
Utilizing evidence from the narratives of justice-involved emerging adults, this book details key turning points for young people trying to desist from crime. Building on evidence from researchers and theorists as well as from the author’s own narrative interviews, this book provides a brief and approachable review of the extant literature, summarizing work across the fields of developmental psychology, sociology, and criminology to provide the reader with an understanding of the maturation of young people in their late teens and 20s before concluding with considerations for policy and practice building from this evidence.
Growing Up and Out of Crime is perfect for students, scholars, and academics who study young people and behavior across the life course and maturation, deviance, and desistance as well as for practitioners working on desistance or working with young people engaged in deviance.
Introduction
1. The Life Course and Emerging Adulthood Theory
2. Theorizing Identity and Maturation
3. Methodological Approach
4. Psychological Maturation
5. Relationships and Social Supports
6. Social Institutions
7. Implications for Policy and Practice
Bibliography
Elias S. Nader, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Kent State University. He is a criminologist who studies two main topic areas: the transition to adulthood among justice-involved young people and the practices, policies, and initiatives of police departments.