Young Offenders, 2015 Crime, Prison and Struggles for Desistance Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology Series

Young Offenders provides one of the most in-depth studies of young males seeking, if often failing, to find a life beyond crime and punishment. Through rich interview data of young offenders over a ten year period, this book explores the complex personal and situational factors that promote and derail the desistance process.

Introduction 1. Setting the Scene 2. Approach to the Field - Data 3. On Track 4. Recurring Breakdown 5. Major Derailment 6. Catastrophic Turn 7. Points of Unrest 8. Points of Light Concluding Remarks

Mark Halsey is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Flinders University, Australia. Previous to this he taught criminology at the University of Melbourne. In 2012 he was awarded a four-year Australian Research Council Future Fellowship for the study of the causes, experiences and consequences of intergenerational incarceration.

Simone Deegan was Project Officer for the Generativity in Young Male (Ex)Prisoners Project at Flinders University, Australia. Prior to this she worked as a criminal defence solicitor with the Legal Services Commission in the Magistrates and Youth Courts of South Australia. She has an ongoing interest in prisons and prison officer culture.

Winner of the Christine M Alder Book Prize 2017 awarded by the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology