“If Someone Would Have Showed Me”: Identifying Pivotal Points in Pathways to Crime and Incarceration Through Prisoner Self-Narratives

Abstract

Criminologists and correctional administrators are continuously interested in understanding criminal career trajectories, including desistance, particularly to further develop correctional programming. One program that seeks to promote successful reentry by triggering desistance for youth and adults is the IF Project, founded in 2008 in Washington State. A central component of the IF Project program requires participants to write narratives that ask them to reflect on their journey to crime and to think about what they would have needed to break away from their criminal career trajectory. This research reports on a content analysis of 171 of these writings by adult prisoners in Washington State. Results from the content analysis reveal distinct and overlapping themes for both men and women that highlight the identity change process. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Assisted Desistance in Formal Settings: A Scoping Review

“…This shift towards a new identity has been observed in almost all recent studies of desistance (F.‐Dufour, Brassard and Martel 2015; Helfgott et al . 2020; LeBel et al . 2008; Maruna 2001; Na and Paternoster 2019; Paternoster and Bushway 2009; Radcliffe and Hunter 2016; Stevens 2012; Stone 2015), giving it a central role in this process.…”

Désistement assisté en contexte formel : une étude de la portée

“…: Farrall, 2002 ;Giordano, Cernkovich et Rudolph, 2002 ;Laub et Sampson, 2003 ;Maruna, 2001 ;Paternoster et Bushway, 2009), qui conduit au désistement secondaire, où les changements apportés sont tels que le désisteur se décrit comme un « ex » contrevenant (Maruna et Farrall, 2004). Cette transition vers une nouvelle identité (ou dans le discours narratif se rapportant à soi) est observée dans la plupart des recherches récentes sur le désistement (F. -Dufour, Brassard et Martel, 2015 ;Helfgott, Gunnison, Sumner, Collins et Rice, 2019 ;LeBel, Burnett, Maruna et Bushway, 2008 ;Maruna, 2001Maruna, , 2020Na et Paternoster, 2019 ;Paternoster et Bushway, 2009 ;Radcliffe et Hunter, 2016 ;Stevens, 2012 ;Stone, 2015), lui conférant un rôle central dans ce processus.…”

Against "Improvement," Toward Relations: Meditations on a Prison Writing Program

“…During my time as a coordinator and facilitator with Inspired Minds, I have come to understand how the program is constituted both by and against the discourse of "improvement" that undergirds many prison education and arts programs. Numerous studies assess the positive impacts of prison arts programs on the "life effectiveness attitudes" of prisoners (Brewster 2014, 1), including "time management, social competence, achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, emotional control, active initiative, and self-confidence" (Brewster 2014, 13; see also Brown 2008;Cheliotis and Jordanoska 2016;Cross 2018;Feuerverger and Mullen 1998;Green 2010;Gussak and Ploumis-Devick 2004;and Helfgott et al 2020). Other studies point to the therapeutic function of the arts, and in relation to Indigenous prisoners specifically, their potential for healing and decolonization (Bamarki 2016;Marchetti 2018).…”