Childhood traumatic experiences in juvenile delinquents, criminal career and desistance from crime
November 17th, 2025
The article “Vissuti traumatici nell’infanzia di minori autori di reato, carriera criminale e desistenza dal crimine” [Childhood traumatic experiences in juvenile delinquents, criminal career and desistance from crime], published in the second 2025 issue of Maltrattamento e abuso all’infanzia, presents a qualitative clinical-criminological study that adopts a narrative criminology approach. The ongoing research examines the onset and development of criminal careers that began before adulthood in individuals whose childhood and adolescence were marked by traumatic experiences.
Its main aim is to identify the factors that support desistance from crime by analysing the personal narratives of adults who committed offences as minors. These narratives were collected using the FANI (Free Association Narrative Interview), an open interview technique inspired by psychoanalytic practice. The study offers an analysis of the possible relationships between the characteristics of the desistance process and its outcomes, highlighting how these are closely linked to the intensity of the original trauma, the level of involvement in the criminal career, and the quality of relationships established with significant others during the process of disengagement from criminal activity.
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