Book Review: Stephen Farrall and Adam Calverley Understanding Desistance from Crime: Theoretical Directions in Resettlement and Rehabilitation Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2006. 230 pp. ISBN 0—335—21949—7 (hbk); 0—335—21948—9 (pbk) • Reviewed by Maurice Vanstone, Swansea University, UK
| Author | Maurice Vanstone |
| Published date | 01 August 2007 |
| Date | 01 August 2007 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/17488958070070030603 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
data collected via various crime surveys. To add empirical strength to his
work, in the final three chapters Hall draws upon his own ethnographic
research to provide a lengthy discussion of the policing of hate crime (another
complex area, of which Hall enhances our knowledge and understanding) in
London, New York and Philadelphia.
In short, there is much about this book to recommend. Hall certainly
achieves his aim of providing a detailed account of the dynamics of hate
crime as considered by many prominent authors in the field, in addition
to enhancing our knowledge and understanding of policing hate crime in
Great Britain and the United States through his own ethnographic work.
Interestingly, studies of hate crime and offending motivated by bias, preju-
dice and hatred is becoming a popular subject of study in other countries as
well the UK and the USA—Australia being a notable example. Several influ-
ential scholars such as Scott Poynting and Gail Mason have produced im-
portant literature in this area, which the author may consider examining,
should he decide to produce a second edition of this book.
Stephen Farrall and Adam Calverley
Understanding Desistance from Crime: Theoretical Directions in
Resettlement and Rehabilitation
Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2006. 230 pp. ISBN
0–335–21949–7 (hbk); 0–335–21948–9 (pbk)
•Reviewed by Maurice Vanstone, Swansea University, UK
One of the endorsements on the back cover of this book says that the authors
have placed themselves ‘among the leading investigators and interpreters of
criminal careers’, and in achieving their purpose of illuminating what is known
and not known about desistance and its processes they confirm the appropri-
ateness of that endorsement. As another contribution to the excellent Crime
and Justice series, this is a well written and adeptly discursive piece of work
which not only provides an introduction to this growing area of research and
theory, but also significantly contributes to the field by drawing on the authors’
previous and current research.
Using the results of interviews from Farrell’s earlier study of desistance and
51 interviews with a sub-sample, Farrall and Calverley provide the reader
with the rich informative voices of people positioned at various points on the
desistance continuum. Concerned with secondary (permanent) rather than
primary (temporary) desistance, they weave the results of their research into
the existing fabric of desistance theory and research. The book is structured
so as to provide a general overview of what is currently known before lead-
ing the reader into more detailed analysis and theorizing. So, Chapter 1 pro-
vides a whistle stop tour of desistance theory, identifies gaps in knowledge
and sets out the content of the rest of the book. In an update of the circum-
stances of the research subjects, Chapter 2 provides confirmation of the role
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