Reintegration Among High-Profile Ex-Offenders

Abstract

Purpose The reintegration of high-profile ex-offenders—including homicide offenders, pedophiles, and terrorists—frequently receives great political and public attention. This raises several important questions: how do such offenders reintegrate into society after their release? What is the impact of their prison sentence and media attention on life domains post-release? And, given their presence in the public eye, how do current life course theories account for desistance among this special group? Methods Based on in-depth life course interviews with ten Dutch high-profile ex-offenders and interviews with 17 professionals involved in their reintegration, this study seeks to address a significant gap in academic literature on the role of public attention on reentry and desistance. Results While none of the subjects reengaged in criminal behavior, all of them significantly struggled in the domains of family relations, parenthood, intimate partner relationships, employment, and housing post-release. This poses challenges in terms of explaining their desistance through life course theory alone. They are frequently in the public eye, which—combined with strict supervision—inhibits them from rebuilding relationships that may act as informal social controls. Conclusions Findings emphasize the significance of the broader social context of high-profile offenders as well as factors such as time and age, for gaining an understanding of their lived experiences and desistance.

Only One Way To Swim? The Offence And The Life Course In Accounts Of Adaptation To Life Imprisonment

“…Second, and more importantly, criminal identity is imposed by a long prison sentence and associated post-release conditions: lasting or lifelong disclosure requirements, surveillance and supervision, travel restrictions can all be experienced as painful (and sometimes irrelevant) forms of stigma (see McNeill 2019b). They can restrict employment and economic opportunities after release (Appleton 2010), but also personal relationships (Liem and Weggemans 2018), resulting in lasting and pervasive dilemmas about disclosing one's past (Aresti, Eatough, and Brooks-Gordon 2010). Adaptation therefore involves a combination of 'agency and resignation' (Crewe et al 2017a:530), centring on acceptance of these life-altering consequences.…”

The pains of parole for life sentence prisoners in Ireland: Risk, rehabilitation and re-entry

“…Nugent and Schinkel (2016) describe desistance as a painful experience because it is common for ex-offenders to experience social isolation, goal failure (particularly with regards to employment) and a sense of hopelessness once they stop offending. Obstacles to re-entry may be magnified for high profile prisoners whose crimes attract significant media attention and social stigma (Liem and Weggemans, 2018). This is particularly significant in Ireland where life sentence prisoners have been subject to the vagaries of politics.…”

“…The presence of strong family support is another important consideration in parole decision-making. However, Liem and Garcin (2014) found that many life sentence prisoners did not have partners or children when they went into prison and serving a life sentence meant that they missed the critical developmental window for family formation (see also Liem and Weggemans, 2018). Others lost contact with family members, or relatives had died, over the course of a long sentence.…”

“…[It wasn’t until] the second or the third year of doing the right thing and being out in society, my whole family started looking at me differently. (Life sentence prisoner; cited in Liem and Weggemans, 2018)…”

Only One Way to Swim? The Offence and the Life Course in Accounts of Adaptation to Life Imprisonment

“…Second, and more importantly, criminal identity is imposed by a long prison sentence and associated post-release conditions: lasting or lifelong disclosure requirements, surveillance and supervision, travel restrictions can all be experienced as painful (and sometimes irrelevant) forms of stigma (see McNeill 2019b). They can restrict employment and economic opportunities after release (Appleton 2010), but also personal relationships (Liem and Weggemans 2018), resulting in lasting and pervasive dilemmas about disclosing one's past (Aresti, Eatough, and Brooks-Gordon 2010). Adaptation therefore involves a combination of 'agency and resignation' (Crewe et al 2017a:530), centring on acceptance of these life-altering consequences.…”