Co-authoring desistance narratives: Analysing interactions in groupwork for addressing sexual offending

Mullins, Eve; Kirkwood, Steve

doi:10.1177/1748895819863101

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Motivation develops in the dialectical relationship between mentees and mentors, as mentees desire to change their lives, but mentors crystallise this by providing the vision and means to turn this into a reality. As argued by Mullins and Kirkwood (2019), identity desistance occurs through relational desistance; through social interaction people develop and test emerging identities, find reinforcement or resistance. Mentors help people envision potential future selves, experience reinforcement for positive changes, see life developments as valuable, and find encouragement to persist in the face of barriers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A wee kick up the arse’: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime

Kirkwood

2021

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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Mentoring is an increasingly popular approach for supporting people who have a history of offending. Previous research provides some evidence that it may contribute to reductions in offending behaviour and support desistance from crime. The present study analysed interviews with 33 people who used mentoring services in Scotland to examine the relationships between mentoring, motivation and desistance. The findings suggest that the offer of mentoring may translate a general desire to change into motivation by providing the means to achieve this change. Mentoring may help people develop ‘hooks for change’ through practical assistance that leads to positive changes and by encouraging people see the value of such changes. Mentors can also model ways of being that outline possible future selves and services can structure in pro-social activities that support stakes in conformity. The article contributes to theoretical understandings of motivation and desistance by specifying the interplay of agency and structure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A wee kick up the arse’: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime

Kirkwood

2021

Criminology & Criminal Justice

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“…To examine how respect and warmth are interactionally achieved we analysed video recordings of sessions of the Scottish national groupwork programme for addressing sexual offending, ‘Moving Forward: Making Changes’ (MF: MC) using CA (Liddicoat, 2011). Through detailed transcription, capturing what is said and how it is said (Jefferson, 2004), and pursuing the micro-level sequence of talk (Schegloff, 2007), we examined how people made sense of their conversations and what they are doing in their talk, for example, constructing certain identities (Mullins & Kirkwood, 2019a), or navigating expressions of shame (Mullins & Kirkwood, 2019b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unpicking social work practice skills: Warmth and respect in practice

Mullins

Kirkwood

2022

Qualitative Social Work

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Warmth and respect are considered essential skills for relationship building in social work. However, these skills are often treated as common sense, and how to be respectful and warm, particularly in challenging situations, remains unclear. Practice guidance is commonly given as a list of generic behaviours or vague directions. Furthermore, it is not clear how being respectful or warm leads to effective relationships. In this article, we applied conversation analysis to examine transcripts of video recordings of 12 sessions of ‘Moving Forward: Making Changes’, the national groupwork programme addressing sexual offending in Scotland, to outline and specify the interactional practices that constitute instances of respect and warmth in social work practice. We found practitioners demonstrated warmth and respect by recognising and acknowledging clients’ accounts and identities in the interaction through subtle discursive practices. These practices include using hedging words and phrases (e.g. sort of, maybe), framing challenges as questions or suggestions rather than declarations, and using therapeutic phrasing (i.e. ‘I’m curious about’, I’m wondering’). As such, we propose the actions of demonstrating respect and warmth are achieved in interaction through the ways practitioners delicately manage issues of epistemic authority, that is, a person’s primary rights to knowledge about themselves, and face, that is, self-presentation. Drawing on the concepts of epistemic authority and face furthers our theoretical and practical understanding of the practice skills of respect and warmth, and their role in building effective working relationships.

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“…At the same time, there are clear limitations set on the social availability of positive life scripts for those who have been criminalized that need to be recognized. Borrowing from cultural sociology, this body of research recognizes that self-narratives are "co-authored" in interactions, ranging from therapeutic encounters (Mullins & Kirkwood, 2020;Stevens, 2012) to restorative justice mediation (Pelikan & Hofinger, 2016). Mentors and mutual aid groups can provide "narrative maps" (Flores, 2016) and "memorable messages" (Stone 2019) that become instrumental in the development of one's own internal narrative (Harding et al, 2017;Weaver & McNeill, 2015).…”

Section: Narratives and Desistancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, contemporary work in narrative criminology increasingly recognizes narrative as a co-production of both the storyteller and the audience (Mullins & Kirkwood, 2020;Wesely 2018). In analyzing narratives, scholars thus call for reflexivity and disclosure of how the narratives were obtained .…”

Section: Whose Story Is This? Issues Of Co-productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where Is This Story Going? A Critical Analysis of the Emerging Field of Narrative Criminology

Maruna

Liem

2021

Annu. Rev. Criminol.

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Over the past decade, a growing body of literature has emerged under the umbrella of narrative criminology. We trace the origins of this field to narrative scholarship in the social sciences more broadly and review the recent history of criminological engagement in this field. We then review contemporary developments, paying particular attention to research around desistance and victimology. Our review highlights the most important critiques and challenges for narrative criminology and suggests fruitful directions in moving forward. We conclude by making a case for the consolidation and integration of narrative criminology, in hopes that this movement becomes more than an isolated clique. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology, Volume 4 is January 13, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Co-authoring desistance narratives: Analysing interactions in groupwork for addressing sexual offending

Cited by 13 publications

References 60 publications

‘A wee kick up the arse’: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime

‘A wee kick up the arse’: Mentoring, motivation and desistance from crime

Unpicking social work practice skills: Warmth and respect in practice

Where Is This Story Going? A Critical Analysis of the Emerging Field of Narrative Criminology

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