Desistance from crime and recovery from drug misuse share similar characteristics. Researchers, in

both fields of desistance and recovery, acknowledge the importance of societal responses, besides

personal and social factors, in initiating and sustaining desistance and recovery. However, the

mechanisms contributing to this are not yet clearly understood.

Starting from the recovery field, one angle to unravel this interaction is by the concept of ‘ecovery

capital’ consisting of personal, social and community resources facilitating recovery. The emerging

body of work on recovery capital has mainly been carried out with an alcohol or illicit drug using

sample, rather than in a population involved in offending. Leading experts in the field of recovery

however, argue that concepts derived from and elaborated within addiction and recovery research

inspire the conceptual development and understanding of desistance and contribute to the

emerging field of studying desistance and recovery.

As such, we will introduce the concept of recovery capital to a criminology audience and apply it to

offenders who misuse drugs.

Based on a multimethod design, this study will explore whether recovery capital -and the degree

of personal, social and community capital- supports initiating and sustaining desistance and

recovery among a group that has previously been involved in both drug misuse and offending.