This article develops an integrated theory of structured redemption to explain how desistance unfolds after homicide under conditions of durable stigma, extended punishment, and institutional exclusion. While prior desistance research emphasizes individual change, little is known about how transformation becomes possible for individuals convicted of lethal violence. The analysis draws on autobiographical materials from my own experience serving over a decade in prison for a gang-related homicide, and life-history interviews with 12 formerly incarcerated individuals convicted of murder in Illinois. Using an abductive analytic approach, these materials were coded across life-course phases to identify recurring mechanisms linking institutional access, social recognition, and personal commitment across incarceration and reentry. Change unfolded through four empirically overlapping phases—baseline conditions of impossibility, emergent alignment, misalignment, and sustained alignment—defined by shifting relationships among structural access, relational recognition, and agentic commitment. Redemption became durable only when personal commitment converged with credible opportunities. Structured redemption frames desistance as a conditional, socially produced process rather than an individual accomplishment. The findings extend relational and structural theories of desistance and highlight how sentencing policies, reentry regimes, and institutional practices impact the durability of change after homicide.
BersaniB. E.DiPietroS. M. (2016). Examining the salience of marriage to offending for black and Hispanic men. Justice Quarterly, 33(3), 510–537.
2.
BersaniB. E.DohertyE. E. (2018). Desistance from offending in the twenty-first century. Annual Review of Criminology, 1(1), 311–334.
3.
BoldenC. L. (2020). Out of the red: My life of gangs, prison, and redemption. Rutgers University Press.
4.
BoldenC. L.RobertsJ.ThomasE.CastleS. (2025). Walk right up to the Sun, hand in hand: The power of peer mentorship in facilitating the successful reentry of former lifers. In C. P. Dum, J. J. Fader, T. P. LeBel, & K. A. Wright (Eds.), Handbook on lived experience in the Justice System (pp. 243–256). Routledge.
5.
DeckerS. H.PyroozD. C.MouleR. K. (2014). Disengagement from gangs as role transitions. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(2), 268–283.
6.
DensleyJ. A.PyroozD. C. (2019). A signaling perspective on disengagement from gangs. Justice Quarterly, 36(1), 31–58.
7.
DeterdingN. M.WatersM. C. (2021). Flexible coding of in-depth interviews: A twenty-first-century approach. Sociological Methods & Research, 50(2), 708–739.
8.
FarrallS.BowlingB. (1999). Structuration, human development and desistance from crime. British Journal of Criminology, 39(2), 253–268.
9.
FarrallS.HunterB.SharpeG.CalverleyA. (2014). Criminal careers in transition: The social context of desistance from crime. Oxford University Press.
10.
GålnanderR. (2024). Persist to desist: How to maintain desistance from crime in the face of severe setbacks. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 24(5), 939–954.
11.
GiordanoP. C. (2022). Some cognitive transformations about the dynamics of desistance. Criminology & Public Policy, 21(4), 787–809.
12.
GiordanoP. C.CernkovichS. A.RudolphJ. L. (2002). Gender, crime, and desistance: Toward a theory of cognitive transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 107(4), 990–1064.
13.
GoffmanE. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Prentice-Hall.
14.
HessC.LeversoJ. (2025). The gang’s not out there anymore: Gentrification, neighborhood change, and gang retreatism in Chicago. International Criminology, 5, 469–489.
KarpowitzD. (2019). College in prison: Reading in an age of mass incarceration. Rutgers University Press.
17.
KirkD. S.WakefieldS. (2018). Collateral consequences of punishment: A critical review and path forward. Annual Review of Criminology, 1, 171–194.
18.
KrasK. R. (2022). The irredeemable? How men convicted of sexual offenses reflect and reconcile redemption and condemnation scripts on the path to desistance. Deviant Behavior, 43(11), 1293–1312.
19.
LaubJ. H.SampsonR. J. (2006). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Harvard University Press.
20.
LeeS.BubolzB. F. (2020). The gang member stands out: Stigma as a residual consequence of gang involvement. Criminal Justice Review, 45(1), 64–83.
21.
LeversoJ. (2025). States that impose severe prison sentences accomplish the opposite of what they say they want. The Conversation.
22.
LeversoJ.HessC. (2021). From the hood to the home: Masculinity maturation of Chicago street gang members. Sociological Perspectives, 64(6), 1206–1223.
23.
LiemM. (2016). After life imprisonment: Reentry in the era of mass incarceration (Vol. 13). NYU Press.
24.
LukerK. (2009). Salsa dancing into the social sciences. Harvard University Press.
25.
ManningW. D.BrownS. L.PayneK. K. (2014). Two decades of stability and change in age at first union formation. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(2), 247–260.
26.
MarunaS. (2001). Making good (Vol. 86). American Psychological Association.
27.
MarunaS. (2025). Redeeming desistance: From individual journeys to a social movement. Criminology, 63(1), 5–25.
28.
MarunaS.LiemM. (2021). Where is this story going? A critical analysis of the emerging field of narrative criminology. Annual Review of Criminology, 4(1), 125–146.
29.
McAdamsD. P. (2006). The redemptive self: Stories Americans live by. Oxford University Press.
30.
NugentB.SchinkelM. (2016). The pains of desistance. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 16(5), 568–584.
31.
ÖstermanL. A. M. (2022). Longitudinal cross-national perspectives on female desistance: The role of social and emotional capitals in female narrations of maintaining change. European Journal of Probation, 14(1), 21–39.
32.
OwenB. A. (1998). In the mix: Struggle and survival in a women’s prison. Suny Press.
33.
PagerD. (2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108(5), 937–975.
34.
PapachristosA. V.HureauD. M.BragaA. A. (2013). The corner and the crew: The influence of geography and social networks on gang violence. American Sociological Review, 78(3), 417–447.
35.
PapachristosA. V.LeversoJ.HureauD. (2024). A relational approach to street gangs. In D. C. Pyrooz, J. A. Densley, & J. Leverso (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of gangs and society (pp. 54–73). Oxford University Press.
36.
PaternosterR.BushwayS. (2009). Desistance and the “feared self”: Toward an identity theory of criminal desistance. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 99, 1103–1156.
37.
PetersiliaJ. (2003). When prisoners come home: Parole and prisoner reentry. Oxford University Press.
38.
SagaraS.SuzukiM.HashibaN.YamawakiN.TakenakaY. (2024). Mapping desistance research: A systematic quantitative literature review from 2011 to 2020. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 63(3), 171–187.
39.
StahlN. A.KingJ. R. (2020). Expanding approaches for research: Understanding and using trustworthiness in qualitative research. Journal of developmental education, 44(1), 26–28.
40.
TavoryI.TimmermansS. (2014). Abductive analysis: Theorizing qualitative research. University of Chicago Press.
41.
TimmermansS.TavoryI. (2022). Data analysis in qualitative research: Theorizing with abductive analysis. University of Chicago Press.
42.
Todd-KvamJ.Todd-KvamM. (2022). Talking good: Analysing narratives of desistance in Norway. British Journal of Criminology, 62(4), 914–930.
43.
TravisJ. (2005). But they all come back: Facing the challenges of prisoner reentry. The Urban Institute.
Vila-HenningerL.DupuyC.Van IngelgomV.CaprioliM.TeuberF.PennetreauD.Le GallC. (2024). Abductive coding: Theory building and qualitative (re) analysis. Sociological Methods & Research, 53(2), 968–1001.
46.
WalkerM. L. (2022). Indefinite: Doing time in jail. Oxford University Press.
47.
WeaverB. (2015). Offending and desistance: The importance of social relations. Routledge.
48.
WeaverB. (2019). Understanding desistance: A critical review of theories of desistance. Psychology Crime and Law, 25(6), 641–658.
49.
WeaverB.GrahamH.MarunaS. (2023). Turning over a new leaf: Desistance research for a new generation. In LieblingA.MarunaS.McAraL. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology (pp. 146–165).
50.
WesternB. (2018). Homeward: Life in the year after prison. Russell Sage Foundation.
