Recent research suggests that imprisonment may increase subsequent levels of offending, but it is not clear why this is the case. Drawing on general strain theory (GST), this study examines whether...

The Pains of Imprisonment Revisited: The Impact of Strain on Inmate Recidivism

Research on desistance emphasizes the importance of the transformation narrative, in which the individual has replaced his old, criminal self with a new, law-abiding self Key elements of the trans

The Role of Transformation Narratives in Desistance Among Released Lifers

This article examines the effects of custodial versus non-custodial sentences on recidivism. An eight-year follow-up study was conducted to track and compare rates of recidivism between former pris...

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Is Imprisonment Criminogenic?: A Comparative Study of Recidivism Rates between Prison and Suspended Prison Sanctions

Established in 1991, the Listener scheme, regulated by the Samaritans, is currently the best-established peer support scheme in place to help reduce suicide in prisons. Each prison Listener team is comprised of a group of inmate volunteers who provide face-to-face emotional support to their peers. Although the scheme has been in operation for over 20 years, empirical research on the scheme is limited. A deeper understanding of how being a Listener affects prisoners' attitudes, beliefs, emotions and experiences of imprisonment is needed. The present study is a qualitative analysis on the experience of being a Listener and the impact it has on individuals and their prison experience. Interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The analysis revealed two main superordinate themes: ‘Listening and Personal Transformation’ and ‘Countering Negative Prison Emotions’. These themes are unpacked and the analysis focuses on their implications for desistance and offender reform. Results sug...

Accumulating meaning, purpose and opportunities to change ‘drip by drip’: the impact of being a listener in prison

As part of a broad initiative of systematic reviews of experimental or quasiexperimental evaluations of interventions in the field of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders, our work consisted in searching through all available databases for evidence concerning the effects of custodial and non-custodial sanctions on reoffending.
For this purpose, we examined more than 3,000 abstracts, and finally 23 studies that met the minimal conditions of the Campbell Review, with only 5 studies based on a controlled or a natural experimental design. These studies allowed, all in all, 27 comparisons. Relatively few studies compare recidivism rates for offenders sentenced to jail or prison with those of offenders given some alternative to incarceration (typically probation).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4073/csr.2015.1

The Effects on Re‐offending of Custodial vs. Non‐custodial Sanctions: An Updated Systematic Review of the State of Knowledge

The objective of this article is to identify the interpersonal factors that explain narratives of desistance among offenders who have been sentenced to prison. Through narrative interviews, we have studied a purposeful age-graded sample of men convicted of acquisitive crimes. Although the results confirm the leading research of Laub and Sampson (2003) about the importance of social bonds as a change catalyst, they also suggest that changes in narratives may depend not only on participation in new social institutions but also on the new meaning that institutions present during the criminal career of offenders, such as family relationships, may acquire in adulthood.

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Turning points and returning points: Understanding the role of family ties in the process of desistance

Desistance should be the main ground for reentry policies for imprisoned offenders. However, theories on desistance are diverse, and they disagree about the key factors related to the origin, maintenance, and failures of the desistance process. This research considers three main theories of desistance—control, cognitive transformation, and strain-social support—to explain desistance in a sample of imprisoned men in Spain. The main finding of the research is that strain-social support theory may be of primary importance for understanding desistance because of its capacity to explain processes of change that begin during imprisonment and that continue upon release.

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Imprisonment, Social Support, and Desistance A Theoretical Approach to Pathways of Desistance and Persistence for Imprisoned Men

This article examines how close the Spanish penitentiary system comes to fulfilling an ideal role for the prison in the system of punishment based on: (a) limitation of the use of imprisonment; (b) normalization of prison life; and (c) early reintegration into society of prisoners in the process of rehabilitation. On the basis of official reports and data of the years 1996-2003, it is first shown that although non-custodial punishments have produced a reduction in the use of imprisonment, this effect has been extensively compensated for by the increased period that prisoners have to serve before parole is granted. Second, although prison conditions have improved considerably since the 1990s, the system continues to suffer from some important shortcomings. Finally, the article compares the use of open prison and parole in the two administrations that manage Spanish prisons (the Catalan administration and the General Administration of the State) and explores the relationship between a policy based on rehabi...

/pdf/the-penitentiary-system-in-spain-the-use-of-imprisonment-3hzriivmyj.pdf

The penitentiary system in Spain: The use of imprisonment, living conditions and rehabilitation

This paper analyzes the effects of family contacts during incarceration on recidivism and explores the mechanisms that relate these factors. A two-wave mixed method design is applied on a sample of men given prison sentences for ordinary acquisitive crimes in the province of Barcelona. The analysis shows that both the stronger family ties (with parents and partners) and the weaker ones (with other family members) may have a significant effect on the desistance process, through the mechanism of bonding (in relation to strong ties) or social support (in relation to weak ties). However, the results also show the limitations of bonding when not coupled with the instrumental support needed for a successful reentry. Additionally to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis has been conducted to detail explanatory mechanisms, taking also into account negative cases.

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José Cid

Papers

Turning points and returning points: Understanding the role of family ties in the process of desistance

Is Imprisonment Criminogenic?: A Comparative Study of Recidivism Rates between Prison and Suspended Prison Sanctions

Imprisonment, Social Support, and Desistance A Theoretical Approach to Pathways of Desistance and Persistence for Imprisoned Men

The penitentiary system in Spain: The use of imprisonment, living conditions and rehabilitation

Encarcelamiento, lazos familiares y reincidencia. Explorando los límites del familismo