Turning points or dead ends? Identity, desistance and the experience of imprisonment

Ben Jarman

doi:10.17863/CAM.33383

Abstract

Desistance research has pushed criminologists to develop a nuanced conceptual account of criminal identity and human agency. However, these tools have mostly not been used to consider identity changes among long-sentenced prisoners, despite the growing preponderance of long-term imprisonment in England and Wales. As a result of this, desistance theory has not been used to evaluate the administration of indeterminate sentences, meaning that practitioners may be missing out on some of the insights that it can generate. This qualitative study begins to fill that gap, using a phenomenological analysis of eighteen in-depth semi-structured interviews with life- sentenced prisoners at a single prison in England, all of whom had been convicted of murder. It argues that most eventually attempt conscious projects of personal change during imprisonment; second, that many frame change in terms which are not consistent with the official discourses of risk reduction (which govern their progression through the sentence); and third, that how they themselves conceive and pursue personal change is affected by their position in the sentence and the life course, and also by the specific nature and circumstances of their index offences. The analysis classifies four different styles of agency found in the sample: ‘defensive’ and ‘fractured’ agents were unwilling or unable to accept responsibility for the offence, and were consequently in penal ‘dead ends’; while ‘corrective’ and ‘redemptive’ agents had encountered ‘turning points’, in that they accepted responsibility, albeit in different ways. The analysis describes each group’s characteristic ways of describing the offence and their part in it. It also describes their attitudes to prison social life in general, and to rehabilitative intervention in particular. The study as a whole suggests that much of the personal change which lifers themselves frame as significant happens outside rehabilitative interventions, and may be invisible to key prison staff. This raises important questions about whether prisons and prisoners think about rehabilitation in the same way, with consequences for the legitimacy of penal power.

Availability

Available via https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/286064.

Note

The link above is for the text of the thesis. Separate slides presenting selected findings from this thesis are also available via https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/291515.

Reuse

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Citation

BibTeX citation:

@phdthesis{jarmanTurningPointsDead2018a,
  author = {Jarman, Ben},
  publisher = {Apollo - University of Cambridge repository},
  title = {Turning Points or Dead Ends? {Identity,} Desistance and the
    Experience of Imprisonment},
  date = {2018-04-21},
  url = {https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/286064},
  doi = {10.17863/CAM.33383},
  langid = {en-GB},
  abstract = {Desistance research has pushed criminologists to develop a
    nuanced conceptual account of criminal identity and human agency.
    However, these tools have mostly not been used to consider identity
    changes among long-sentenced prisoners, despite the growing
    preponderance of long-term imprisonment in England and Wales. As a
    result of this, desistance theory has not been used to evaluate the
    administration of indeterminate sentences, meaning that
    practitioners may be missing out on some of the insights that it can
    generate. This qualitative study begins to fill that gap, using a
    phenomenological analysis of eighteen in-depth semi-structured
    interviews with life- sentenced prisoners at a single prison in
    England, all of whom had been convicted of murder. It argues that
    most eventually attempt conscious projects of personal change during
    imprisonment; second, that many frame change in terms which are not
    consistent with the official discourses of risk reduction (which
    govern their progression through the sentence); and third, that how
    they themselves conceive and pursue personal change is affected by
    their position in the sentence and the life course, and also by the
    specific nature and circumstances of their index offences. The
    analysis classifies four different styles of agency found in the
    sample: “defensive” and “fractured” agents were unwilling or unable
    to accept responsibility for the offence, and were consequently in
    penal “dead ends”; while “corrective” and “redemptive” agents had
    encountered “turning points”, in that they accepted responsibility,
    albeit in different ways. The analysis describes each group’s
    characteristic ways of describing the offence and their part in it.
    It also describes their attitudes to prison social life in general,
    and to rehabilitative intervention in particular. The study as a
    whole suggests that much of the personal change which lifers
    themselves frame as significant happens outside rehabilitative
    interventions, and may be invisible to key prison staff. This raises
    important questions about whether prisons and prisoners think about
    rehabilitation in the same way, with consequences for the legitimacy
    of penal power.}
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

Jarman, B. (2018, April 21). Turning points or dead ends? Identity, desistance and the experience of imprisonment (MPhil), Apollo - University of Cambridge repository. Retrieved from https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/286064