This paper discusses new empirical evidence for a positive relationship between musical learning and desistance from crime. On investigating the learning processes occurring within a Javanese gamelan project in a Young Offenders Institution, parallels between musical learning processes and the development of certain attributes linked to desistance from crime emerged.

This paper illustrates the personal development and the social development that can be gained as a result of the project. These are discussed in the context of successful musical learning and the suggestion is made that musical learning and developing the attributes essential for inspiring desistance from crime arise from shared learning processes.

"I am able to listen a lot more. What other people are saying - that was something that I struggled with before. I used to [think] ‘I don’t care, I’m here for one person and one person only.' You can’t be like that. In order to get anywhere in this world you’ve got to listen. Good Vibrations taught me that."