{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T09:20:02Z","timestamp":1777713602600,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,30]],"date-time":"2025-11-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764460800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Expanding on the largely omitted concept \u201cfrustrated desistance,\u201d the paper approaches desistance as an ambiguous, non-linear and contradictory experience. Qualitative interviews conducted with case managers and participants of a voluntary Swedish desistance and gang defector program were analyzed to add nuance to desistance derailment in an offender rehabilitative setting. While ostensibly a \u201chook for change,\u201d the program struggled to provide appropriate assistance. Rather than facilitating desistance, various contrarian (and occasionally contradictory) institutional practices were found to undermine such efforts, subverting the very notion of a hook. When torn between conflicting motivations, treatment engagement is disincentivized rather than encouraged, creating dissonance and turmoil. Placed against these contradictions and weighed down by the many burdens of liminality, the agent may \u201cloosen\u201d or \u201cslip off\u201d the hook. Illegal debts accrued from involvement in drug trade (\u201cstreet debts\u201d) and interrelated security concerns constitute two hitherto unrecognized frustrations that complicate desistance efforts. The findings underscore how desistance is always situated in the context of other concerns and demands, with practical implications for offender rehabilitation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0306624x251395761","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,30]],"date-time":"2025-11-30T11:45:51Z","timestamp":1764503151000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Off the Hook? The \u201cLoosening\u201d and \u201cSlipping\u201d in the Context of Frustrated Desistance"],"prefix":"10.1177","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-9706-2657","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lily Dickson","family":"Wahlman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm, Sweden"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_4_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10612-007-9024-6"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0734016813509267"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-2311.2004.00336.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/qup0000196"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_6_1","first-page":"152","volume-title":"After crime and punishment. Pathways to offender reintegration","author":"Burnett R.","year":"2004","unstructured":"Burnett R. (2004). To reoffend or not to reoffend? The ambivalence of convicted property offenders. In Maruna S., Immarigeon R. (Eds.), After crime and punishment. Pathways to offender reintegration (pp. 152\u2013180). Routledge."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_7_1","volume-title":"On Gangs","author":"Decker S. H.","year":"2022","unstructured":"Decker S. H., Pyrooz D., Densley J. A. (2022). On Gangs. Temple University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_8_1","unstructured":"Droppelmann C. (2019). Transitions out of crime: intentions changes and obstacles on the road towards desistance [Dissertation thesis]. University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology. Apollo. https:\/\/www.repository.cam.ac.uk\/items\/f9fdb885-a210-4bc6-83d1-84b5e12d5097"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1745-9125.12250"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/bjc\/azac042"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/17488958241260561"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/18335330.2021.1889019"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/343191"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_14_1","first-page":"416","article-title":"\u2018It\u2019s not just the drugs that are difficult to quit\u2019: Women\u2019s drug dealing as a source of empowerment and its implications for crime persistence","volume":"59","author":"Grundetjern H.","year":"2019","unstructured":"Grundetjern H., Miller J. (2019). \u2018It\u2019s not just the drugs that are difficult to quit\u2019: Women\u2019s drug dealing as a source of empowerment and its implications for crime persistence. British Journal of Criminology, 59, 416\u2013434.","journal-title":"British Journal of Criminology"},{"issue":"5","key":"e_1_3_4_15_1","first-page":"1041","article-title":"\u2018F*ck it\u2019!: Matza and the mood of fatalism in the desistance process","volume":"57","author":"Halsey M.","year":"2017","unstructured":"Halsey M., Armstrong R., Wright S. (2017). \u2018F*ck it\u2019!: Matza and the mood of fatalism in the desistance process. British Journal of Criminology, 57(5), 1041\u20131060.","journal-title":"British Journal of Criminology"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_1","unstructured":"Hedlund A. (2021). \u201cIngen f\u00f6rtj\u00e4nar att d\u00f6\u201d: En intervjustudie om hur individer i kriminella milj\u00f6er i Malm\u00f6 ser p\u00e5 skjutvapenv\u00e5ld och m\u00f6jligheten att hoppa av. 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Stories across borders: how female ex-offenders make sense of their journey through crime and criminal justice in Sweden and England [Dissertation thesis]. University of Surrey. Open Research. https:\/\/openresearch.surrey.ac.uk\/esploro\/outputs\/doctoral\/Stories-across-borders\u2013how-female-ex-offenders-make-sense-of-their-journey-through-crime-and-criminal-justice-in-Sweden-and-England\/99514530102346"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_24_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-2397.00114"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470713471.ch4"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcrimjus.2011.07.001"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_27_1","unstructured":"The City of Stockholm. (2021). V\u00e4gledning f\u00f6r stadsdelsf\u00f6rvaltningarnas arbete med sociala insatsgrupper fr\u00e5n 18 \u00e5r. (Directions for the city district\u2019s work with social task groups from the age of 18). 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