Factors associated with desistance from violence in prison: an exploratory study

Ellis, Sophie; Bowen, Erica

doi:10.1080/1068316x.2017.1290090

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…It includes recognition of choices and opportunities and is future focussed. Ellis and Bowen (2017) suggest that positive social environments can contribute to internal shifts, perhaps reflecting the shifts identified above by Preston (2015) and this has important implications for desistance research.…”

Section: Factors Affected By Successful Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…The findings relating to attachment are the crucial nature of the relationships between prisoners and staff in building recovery capital; participants reported a more relaxed environment with less bullying. Other outcomes as a result of positive attachments include increased intrinsic motivation found by Gendreau et al (2014), and the role that positive social environments play in supporting individuals to experience a shift in perspective regarding their confidence to cope and commitment to non-violence (Ellis and Bowen, 2017).…”

Section: Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring forensic environments: how do environmental factors influence individual outcomes for residents and staff? A systematic review

Greenacre

Palmer

2018

MHSI

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Purpose Increasing attention is focusing on the role of environments in the rehabilitation of offenders, with a range of reported outcomes in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to explore forensic environments and the outcomes and changes that result, in order to assess the current knowledge in this area and to inform current and future practice. Design/methodology/approach Using a systematic review approach with an extensive literature search and robust application of appraisal methods, nine studies were identified. The studies included one mixed method study (n=1), qualitative methods (n=4) that utilised thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis and quantitative methods (n=4) that utilised the responses to psychometric measures including the EssenCES and correctional institution environment scale (CIES) to assess the quality and outcomes associated with environments in forensic settings. Findings Three superordinate themes were identified: factors required for successful environments, factors that influence successful environments and factors affected by successful environments. Research limitations/implications Further research would be beneficial around motivation, as it appears to influence the success of environments and be a potential outcome of environments. Further research might usefully explore the ideal time in services, for optimal outcomes in order to advise those currently commissioning services of this nature. Originality/value In addition to outcomes, this review found factors required for forensic environments that are consistent with previous literature within the field, and factors that might influence how successful environments can be.

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Section: Factors Affected By Successful Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring forensic environments: how do environmental factors influence individual outcomes for residents and staff? A systematic review

Greenacre

Palmer

2018

MHSI

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“…Indeed, several studies have analyzed early desistance processes and desistance intentions among individuals in prison and other groups of participants still involved in crime. These studies have explored factors associated with desistance intentions, the effect of the prison setting on desistance intentions, and the lived experience of desistance intention development (e.g., Ellis & Bowen, 2017; Kazemian & Farrington, 2018; Mclean et al, 2017). When it comes to older adults in prison, the results of their desistance efforts may be affected by personal experiences of illness, dementia, or even death.…”

Section: Desistance As a Process And Desistance Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wasted Lives: Aging as an Incentive for Reconstruction of Desistance Intentions Among Older Adults in Prison

Avieli

2020

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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There is growing scholarly interest in older adults involved in crime and their lives in prison. However, the specific group of older adults who persistently offend (OAPO) and their desistance intentions has received little attention. The present study aims to explore the lived experiences of OAPO who intend to desist from crime. Seventeen OAPO were interviewed, and an interpretive phenomenological analysis approach was used to analyze the narratives they presented. Participants’ interviews revealed four superordinate themes: (1) insight and change in the lives of OAPO; (2) a series of losses lead to disillusionment with a life of crime; (3) desistance as the only alternative; and (4) fear of death in prison as a catalyst for desistance. The findings suggest that desistance intention among older adults in prison is an individualized process deeply affected by age-related motivations and dynamics.

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“…' (McNeill and Weaver 2010:5) Research (like this study) which examines desistance among long-sentenced prisoners faces a conceptual dilemma, because there is no consistent pattern of behaviour they desist from. On the one hand, researchers can define subgroups whose patterns of behaviour are similar, and then investigate change in those patterns; a recent study by Ellis and Bowen (2017) does precisely this, but its focus is not long-sentenced prisoners per se. A second approach is to investigate 'secondary' desistance, meaning how prisoners self-consciously pursue non-criminal identities.…”

Section: Risk Vs Character: Two Conceptions Of Personhoodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turning Points or Dead Ends? Identity, desistance and the experience of imprisonment

Jarman

2017

SSRN Journal

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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 lifesentenced 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.

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Factors associated with desistance from violence in prison: an exploratory study

Cited by 9 publications

References 45 publications

Exploring forensic environments: how do environmental factors influence individual outcomes for residents and staff? A systematic review

Exploring forensic environments: how do environmental factors influence individual outcomes for residents and staff? A systematic review

Wasted Lives: Aging as an Incentive for Reconstruction of Desistance Intentions Among Older Adults in Prison

Turning Points or Dead Ends? Identity, desistance and the experience of imprisonment

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