An empirical framework for studying desistance as a process

Recent reviews of the desistance literature have advocated studying desista nce as a process, yet current empirical methods continue to measure desista nce as a discrete state. In this paper, we propose a framework for empirica l research that recognizes desistance as a developmental process. This appr oach focuses on changes in the offending rare rather than on offending itse lf We describe a statistical model to implement this approach and provide a n empirical example. We conclude with several suggestions for future resear ch endeavors that arise from our conceptualization of desistance.