Enabling desistance from crime

Most young adults, including those who have committed serious and violent offences, stop committing crime in their early 20s. There is a crucial window of opportunity where a pro-social identity and desistance from crime can be cultivated because the ‘plasticity’ of young adult brains means they are particularly open to learning, personal growth and the development of pro-social identity.

In addition to a positive self-identity, stable accommodation, long-term employment, good health and good relationships all need to be in place to enable desistance. T2A recommends a young adult specific approach (with a focus on practical support, supporting the development of a positive identity, securing stable accommodation and long-term employment) to be integral to criminal justice service design, commissioning and delivery.

Contact with the criminal justice system is a barrier to the natural desistance process as young adults mature and grow out of crime. T2A also knows that criminal records gained as a young adult still need to be disclosed long after they have left crime behind. This can have an impact on people for during a formative part of their livesT2A advocates for reform to the disclosure system so that young adults are not held back from forming non-criminal identities.

T2A also proposes that particular attention should be given to the support of those young adults who are care leavers, who have neurodiverse conditions, including brain injury, and who have experience racial discrimination.