Qualitative Analysis

This chapter presents qualitative analysis in Argentina and compares desistance narratives with persistence narratives, based on 43 juveniles who did not reoffend up to age 18 versus 85 juveniles who did reoffend. Desistance from crime has been studied mostly in adult populations. While a considerable body of desistance research has been developed in Europe and North America, very few studies have explored desistance from crime in South America or in juvenile populations. The present chapter addresses this gap in the study of desistance in juvenile populations in the lesser-studied context of Argentina, but also internationally, by describing the processes of change that are related to individual transformations that lead young offenders to move away from a criminal life and reintegrate into the community (for more detailed information about the narratives, see Orlando and Farrington, 2023).