This article addresses the importance of offenders’ perceived chances of anticipated desistance. The aim is to investigate to what extent anticipated desistance is associated with (objective) welfare deficiencies, perceived social status and personal agency as measured by the concept of perceived self-efficacy. Secondly, potential differences between men and women in the prediction of future chances of avoiding crime are investigated. Data derive from a survey of a nationwide representative sample of Norwegian prison inmates (225 men and 35 women). The results indicated the presence of severe welfare deficiencies among both male and female inmates. Despite this, a large majority among both genders anticipated their chances of abstaining from crime in the future as good or very good. Practical as well as theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
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