Book review: Young Offenders: Crime, Prison and Struggles for Desistance

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Fair enough: long-term prisoners talk about their sentence

No abstract available

Punishment as moral communication: the experiences of long-term prisoners

This article examines for the first time to what extent the lived experience of long-term prisoners matches the normative theory of criminal punishment as moral communication. The findings are based on 27 narrative interviews with men at different stages of a long-term prison sentence. The analysis suggests that Antony Duff’s normative vision of punishment as moral communication may be difficult to realise in practice because of the inevitable pressures on defendants in the courtroom and on prisoners during their incarceration. In the court, the men’s attention was focused on the length of the sentence imposed; they were often overwhelmed by emotion and did not interact with the court as a moral arena. Within prison the men tended to accept their sentence in order to make bearing their incarceration easier. Comparing these men’s lived experiences of punishment with Duff’s normative theory highlights problems with the theory’s potential implementation but also reveals normative problems with current practices of sentencing and sanctionin

Rethinking turning points: trajectories of parenthood and desistance

Purpose: While much research has examined the role of parenthood in desistance, it has largely treated parenthood as a binary condition. This article examines the interaction between trajectories of parenthood and trajectories of desistance in order to understand how these interact over time. Methods: This article is based on life story interviews with 29 men and women in Scotland who had experienced repeated short-term imprisonment and mentioned children as significant in their lives, ten of whom were interviewed again 2 years later. Results: While becoming pregnant was a (very) positive turning point for many of the women, trauma surrounding parenthood through pregnancy loss, lack of conception and losing the parental role had a clear negative effect on trajectories of desistance.Men had similar experiences, although pregnancy was only a turning point for them if they felt their partner was not fulfilling their role as mother-to-be. Conclusion: A more nuance understanding of the lives of people processed by the criminal justice system is needed, looking beyond their interactions with the criminal justice system and not only in relation to parenthood but also with regard to other frequently cited 'turning points' such as work and relationships

Long term prisoners’ accounts of their sentence

This thesis examines how long-term prisoners make sense of their sentence: what they see as its purpose, whether they think it fair and how they integrate their sentence in their life story. Its findings are based on narrative interviews with six men at the start of their sentence, twelve men who were about to be released and nine men who were under supervision in the community. The men interviewed felt the prison largely failed in its purposes of reform, rehabilitation and deterrence, even though these outcomes were much desired, as almost all wanted to desist. Reformative efforts were seen as overly relying on cognitive behavioural courses in the prison, which, because they were compulsory for progression within the prison, were attended by many who were not motivated to engage with them. Furthermore, the men felt that they were treated as an aggregate rather than as individuals with individual needs and that this meant the necessary supports upon release were often not put in place. Meaningful communication about the relationship between the offence and the sentence was largely lacking. Any moral communication in the courtroom was hampered by the emotional demands on the men at the sentencing stage, their wish to manipulate the outcome in their own favour and their perception that court actors, too, manipulated processes, thereby lessening the moral standing of the court. However, despite the common perception of sentences failing to achieve any desired outcome and other complaints - about the inconsistency of sentencing, the standing of the court to judge and miscarriages of justice - almost all the men nevertheless positioned their sentence as fair (enough) in their narrative. While some referred to normative reasons to explain the legitimacy of their sentence, for others their acceptance was determined by their need to cope with the lived reality of imprisonment. This led to a strategy of ‘getting your head down’, which included accepting the ‘justice’ of one’s sentence, but also limiting thoughts of the outside world and minimising contact with family. Others positioned their prison sentence as transformative in order to be able to construct a progressive narrative and make sense of a desired future of desistance. However, the men on license after release generally struggled to maintain a projected upward trajectory and only felt able to desist by isolating themselves, thereby avoiding further trouble. The thesis concludes that long-term prison sentences could be rendered more meaningful through greater individual input and a dialogue about questions of purpose and meaning, possibly initiated by community criminal justice social workers. In order to promote desistance, it is important that those who are released have better chances to secure an alternative identity for themselves so that they can move into a new stage of their lives, rather than withdrawing from the world in order to desist

Persistent short-term imprisonment: belonging as a lens to understand its shifting meanings over the life course

This article takes a life-course perspective to the meaning of persistent short-term imprisonment and introduces the significance of ‘penal careers’. Examining a total of 62 interviews with men and women in Scotland with long careers of (progression through) criminal punishment, it uses to the concept of belonging as a lens to interpret their experiences. While some participants already felt early on in their career that they belonged in prison because of their shared characteristics with other prisoners, the repetition of imprisonment meant that they increasingly felt displaced from life outside and saw life in prison as ‘easier’ and ‘safer’. Nevertheless, looking back on their many sentences, they felt their cumulative meaning was ‘a waste of life’. The article concludes by considering steps towards tackling the conditions that create this sense of belonging in a place of punishment

‘Well-kent Faces’: Policing Persistent Offenders and the Possibilities for Desistance

This article focuses on the policing of adult persistent offenders and its implications for desistance. It integrates the findings from two qualitative studies undertaken in Scotland on the experiences of those considered ‘persistent offenders’ and the police. The article’s contribution lies in its close analysis of how adult persistent offenders and the police interact, examining factors before, during and after their encounter. We show that the police’s enforcement focus is a significant obstacle to desistance, especially as enacted through intelligence-led policing and the lack of positive discretion towards ‘well-kent faces’. However, we also note that frustration with this approach is emerging within Scottish policing and argue for a relatively modest re-orientation of police practice towards a recognition of signals of desistance

Nuances of fragmentation, (mis)recognition and closeness: Narratives of challenges and support during resettlement

The transition from prison to society tends to be tough and painful for people in resettlement and challenging to facilitate for professionals. The Norwegian Correctional Services aim for a continuous reentry focus throughout the prison sentence. Norway has been presented as one of the Nordic exceptional penal states, partly based on ‘the encouraging pattern of officer-inmate interactions’. However, this exceptional picture has been criticized for paying more attention to discourse than to lived experiences. As newly released persons’ experiences of interaction and relationships with staff and of how these facilitate and frustrate their reentry processes have largely been ignored, this article draws attention to their perspectives. Inspired by narrative analysis, in cooperation with persons with lived experience, we constructed three stories of challenges and support during resettlement. Through these in-depth presentations of frustrating misrecognition, ignorance and fragmentation, but also of closeness, continuity, recognition, belonging and de-stigmatization, this study provides important insights into how interaction and relationships with staff enable and constrain reentry to society. By bringing lived experience into the discourse of Nordic exceptionalism, this article adds valuable perspectives to this still ongoing debate. Overall, we argue for a revitalization of the primary officer role and a broader approach to resettlement to facilitate support throughout the prison sentence

Pervasive punishment in a pandemic

In this paper, we draw on data from a recent study of how Covid-19 and related restrictions impacted on vulnerable and/or marginalised populations in Scotland (Armstrong and Pickering, 2020), including justice-affected people (i.e. people in prison and under supervision, their families and those that work with them; see Gormley et al., 2020). Focusing here mainly on interviews with people released from prison and others under community-based criminal justice supervision, we explore how the pandemic impacted on their experiences. Reflecting upon and refining previous analyses of how supervision is experienced as ‘pervasive punishment’ ( McNeill, 2019), we suggest that both the pandemic and public health measures associated with its suppression have changed the ‘pains’ and ‘gains’ of supervision ( Hayes, 2015), in particular, by exacerbating the ‘suspension’ associated with it. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the pursuit of justice in the recovery from Covid-19