‘Stoppen met die straatgame’: Longitudinale etnografie (N=1) van het proces van desistance

This article centers on the process of (gang) desistance of Jermaine, a man with a substantial criminal record who has been part of the Dutch Crips gang for over a decade. From a phenomenological perspective, drawing on 15 years of longitudinal ethnographic research, Jermaine’s process of desistance is described, with specific attention for his first steps in leaving gang and street life behind, his search for regular work, and the transformation of his (gang) identity. This life story illustrates how much desistance should be understood as a struggle, accompanied by periods of relapsing into old patterns of (criminal) behavior. In addition to these more practical challenges in terms of act-desistance (Nugent and Schinkel, 2016), Jermaine’s story show­cases the importance of identity in the process of desistance. Above all, Jermaine’s story indicates that for some, desistance means that the old criminal or gang identity does not need to be casted aside, but that it become part of the new identity of the desister.