Turning points and returning points: Understanding the role of family ties in the process of desistance
Summary (4 min read)
Introduction
- In the present research the authors assume, as a starting point, that desistance narratives are a necessary step in the process of giving up offending behaviour and this enquiry is focused on the social interactions that may favour those narratives.
- The research is made up of persons who live in a social context which is not common in the principal research (prisoners originally from Spain, the Maghreb, or Latin-America) and some institutions, like family, appear to have a relevance that is rarely mentioned in other desistance studies (but see Bottoms and Shapland 2011; Calverley 2011).
- In exploring the mechanisms that link the interpersonal relationships with the narratives the authors used a theoretical framework, which integrates social control, strain and learning theories, trying to uncover which of those theories may be more relevant to explain the process of formation of desistance narratives.
Theoretical framework
- The starting point of the research is based on the work of Maruna (2001) who proposes that the transition from a life of offending behaviour to a conventional life requires a cognitive transformation.
- This cognitive transformation has two relevant dimensions.
- On the basis of Maruna´s work the authors define a ‘narrative of desistance’ as one in which a person breaks with past offender identity (identity dimension) and becomes able to fulfil conventional plans (self-efficacy dimension).
- For Laub and Sampson, these new events that occur in the course of life may imply that the person starts moving from an offending to a conventional life style and that is why they should be called ‘turning points’.
- The third foundation of the research is based on the findings of a number of researchers which underline the fact that desistance may be affected both by trajectory and by age.
Population and sample
- The research population reflected the most common features of Catalan incarcerated persons.
- It consisted of men sentenced for ordinary acquisitive crimes (violent and nonviolent property offences and drug-dealing offences) in close-regime or open-regime institutions, or on parole.
- The authors added the following variables to the those that formed the initial typology: nationality, social origin, education, work record, drug abuse record and extension of criminal career (see table 1).
- From the total of 67 interviews, 39 were selected for the present analysis, taking into consideration their correspondence to these typical profiles (although a few cases may differ in a particular characteristic) and in order to obtain a balance between narratives of desistance and persistence in each profile.
Research instruments
- The authors used the narrative interview to achieve two aims.
- First, following Maruna (2001), the authors analyzed how interviewees evaluate their lives and construct their narratives (Gadd and Farrall, 2004).
- Second, following Laub and Sampson (2003), the authors used the interview as a means of obtaining information about past and recent life events of participants, as well as determining the context in which these events took place.
- This double approach allowed us to analyze both objective and subjective factors related to the formation of narratives of narratives.
- In order to improve the timing of events in the life course (family, residence, education, job, drug abuse, time served in prison), participants completed an additional life-history calendar (Freedman et al. 1988; Laub and Sampson 2003).
Analysis
- A thematic content analysis of the interviews was conducted on the basis of pre-defined categories, which were enhanced while the work progressed.
- Analysis was focused on concretising the mechanisms that link the narratives with the other factors considered in the research.
Results
- Narratives and interpersonal factors (profile summary) Young offenders.
- Then they realized that I’m really a person that can be released.
- Most of this group had an intensive criminal career and had spent a relevant part of their young adulthood in prison.
- The fact that the participants regretted the lack of support from their families during imprisonment may explain why the motivation to change did not emerge:.
- They immigrated to Spain and all of them had work records in the years after immigration.
Role of social bonds
- The research has found two different kinds of social bond that seem to act as a catalyst in the formation of narratives of desistance.
- The value the participants give to keeping this kind of relationship explains the motivation to make some life changes that are then reflected in narratives.
- The second bond consists of pre-existing relationships with the nuclear family (parents and siblings) or partners who were not able to prevent participants from offending in the past but now, under new circumstances, these relationships acquired a relevant role in the process of the construction of a narrative of desistance.
- Returning points are pre-existing rather than new social bonds.
Role of supports
- The authors have found three main kinds of support: job, family and state welfare.
- With respect to jobs, most persons with a narrative of desistance have had some periods of job experience since they started their process of change.
- With respect to the support of the family and partners two situations should be distinguished.
- Support may be accepted as a temporary help, but it does not contribute to the confidence of the person in reaching his conventional aims.
Role of learning
- With respect to learning within the context of correctional intervention the research has provided two main findings.
- Some examples of the positive contribution of correctional intervention are: perceptions of having more skills (education and training programmes); perceptions of increasing their employability (diplomas obtained in prison); perceptions of being able to overcome criminogenic needs (treatment programmes, like the ones focused on drug-addiction); and perceptions of being able to succeed (early release programmes).
- The second finding is that only those who are previously motivated to change take benefit from participation in these types of programmes and the positive effects are reflected in the narratives.
Role of trajectory and age
- With respect to trajectory, the inter profiles comparison makes it clear that, in agreement with the theory of cumulative disadvantage (Sampson and Laub 1997), in the late-onset profile, in which there persons have been able to avoid a criminal identity, social supports to overcome obstacles may be enough to build a narrative of desistance.
- With respect to the role of age, the idea of having an age-graded sample came from the idea that ageing may be a factor that favours a narrative of desistance.
- The more consistent finding the authors have found in this respect is that “returning points”, based on the new meaning that the family or partner acquires for the persons because of their supporting role during imprisonment, appeared only in the profiles of young-adult and adult offenders, but not in young offenders.
- This finding suggests that some pathways to narratives of desistance may more easily be activated by more mature persons.
Theoretical remarks
- According to these authors, ‘… most offenders desist in response to structurally induced turning points that serve as the catalyst for sustaining long-term behavioural change’ (Laub and Sampson 2003: 149).
- If turning points need be something new in the life-cycle (such as marital relationships, job and military) then returning points, which imply an interaction with an institution already present in the life of the person like family or a partner, should be considered as something different from turning points.
- The second theoretical question the authors would address is why turning points are the main factor in explaining desistance in Laub and Sampson’s research, while in the present research turning points explain narratives of desistance for young offenders but returning points are more relevant to understand narratives of desistance for young adult and adult offenders.
- There are two complementary answers to this question.
Limitations
- Regarding the limitations of the research the authors considered the following as the most relevant.
- Further research is needed to make causal inferences about them.
- The second policy implication consists of promoting strategies with imprisoned offenders that favour the emergence of returning points.
Acknowledgments
- Aina Ibáñez has done very valuable work as a research assistant on the project.
- The research have also benefited from the work of Anna Meléndez and Ferran Restrepo.
- The Catalan prison administration (and in particular Miquel A. Esteban), has been extremely helpful during the project.
- The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers and Shadd Maruna, Fergus McNeill and Daniel Varona for their helpful comments on previous versions of this paper.
- This author would like to express his gratitude to Professor Anthony Bottoms, with whom all the topics of the paper were discussed.
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Citations
90 citations
Cites background or methods from "Turning points and returning points..."
...Following Maruna (2001), we recognize that there is no neat dichotomy of desisters and non-desisters....
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...Following Bottoms et al.’s (2004) sage advice to use the concept “agency” with greater precision, we refer to “agentic” action as voluntary action that can be modified by the actor on request....
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...Second, earlier studies either rely on incarcerated offenders who have not had the ability to “prove” their desistance (e.g., Cid & Marti, 2012; Stevens, 2012) or, for studies relying on released offenders, take for granted what respondents say about desistance (e.g., Appleton, 2010)....
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...…we take the perspective of the individual, while taking into account the social structure within which his or her actions unfold. meThoD Following Cid and Marti (2012), we used the narrative interview to identify how interviewees constructed their narratives and evaluated their lives before,…...
[...]
...DaTa analyses Following content analyses used in previous work (Appleton, 2010; Giordano, Longmore, Schroeder, & Seffrin, 2008), initial data analyses consisted of reading the interview transcripts several times, and then noting connections, associations, and preliminary interpretations....
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35 citations
Cites background from "Turning points and returning points..."
...…scholarship on postprison relationships has tended to focus on the implications of strong or weak family ties for recidivism (Berg & Huebner, 2010; Cid & Martí, 2012; Markson, Lösel, Souza, & Lanskey, 2015; Mills & Codd, 2008), and relatively little is known about partnerships themselves during…...
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30 citations
28 citations
Cites background from "Turning points and returning points..."
...Considering these elements in isolation would diminish the identification of the influence of life events, which can appear to be subjective and discontinuous in the abstract (Cid & Martí, 2012; Lyngstad & Skardhamar, 2013; Sampson & Laub, 2003)....
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26 citations
Cites background or methods from "Turning points and returning points..."
...These three last variables are included in the current study, also in accordance with Cid and Martí (2011, 2012): the reasons for desistance are part of desistance narratives, as well as social support and social bonds, which are transitional factors that enhance and reinforce the creation of this…...
[...]
...…seem to be the first step in a progressive process of desistance (Laub & Sampson, 2001; Maruna, 2001) and, although they do not guarantee withdrawal from crime (Cid & Martí, 2012), they do show the beginning of the personal change needed for the interruption of criminal activity (King, 2013)....
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...Cid and Martí (2012) prefer the term re-turning points because it might not necessarily be a new event which influences the individual in favor of crime desistance, but elements already present in his/her life (family, couple, job, etc.) that may acquire a distinct meaning at a different life stage....
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...Cid and Martí (2011, 2012) consider that reasons for desistance are part of desistance narratives, and that emotional support and social bonds are transitional factors that enhance and reinforce the creation of that narrative....
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...The concept of “desistance narratives” refers to those stories in which people express their rupture (Cid & Martí, 2012; Halsey, 2017; Maruna, 2001; Presser & Sandberg, 2015) or expectations A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 11 February 2019 Accepted 15 April 2019 Keywords: Criminal…...
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References
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Frequently Asked Questions (13)
Q2. What did the participants with a narrative of persistence do after they were released?
After the motivation to change occurred, the participants with a narrative ofdesistance enrolled in programmes directed at facing their drug problems and, in some cases, their needs to control impulsivity.
Q3. What did the participants do during their prison sentences?
Some of the participants took part in programmes aimed at overcoming drugaddiction during their present prison sentence and were able to quit drugs, obtain early release, and finish their sentences with a narrative of desistance.
Q4. What is the role of the support in building a narrative of desistance?
in the profiles with an early-onset of offending, for the construction of a narrative of desistance a more intense number of factors and socials bonds as a catalyst of change seems needed.
Q5. What is the role of social bonds in the construction of a narrative of desistance?
It seems then that the job experience, at least for persons able to work, was a necessary element in the construction of a narrative of desistance, and in particular in the perception of selfefficacy.
Q6. What did the participants say about their efforts to change?
Ourparticipants with a narrative of desistance underlined that their families and partners were proud of their efforts to change.
Q7. What criteria were used to construct a typology with 4 profiles of offenders?
From a pre-analysis of these interviews, a typology with 4 profiles of offenders was constructed using two criteria: onset of offending and age at release.
Q8. Why did the authors choose to maintain the contrast among the three profiles?
the authors have decided to maintain the contrast among those three profiles for the following reasons: first, only in the profile of young offenders have the authors found the relevance of turning points and, second, in theIn the second stage, 20 additional interviews were done, focusing on thoseprofiles and narratives less present in the first stage, in order to obtain a sufficient variety of narratives (desistance and persistence) within each of the 4 profiles.
Q9. What was the purpose of the analysis?
A thematic content analysis of the interviews was conducted on the basis of pre-defined categories, which were enhanced while the work progressed.
Q10. What is the role of the support in building a narrative of change?
Similar to other resources that can be mobilized by participants, learning produced within the context of correctional intervention is not catalyst of change but it is a fundamental element in the building narratives of change.
Q11. What is the meaning of the term ‘turning points’?
For Laub and Sampson, these new events that occur in the course of life may imply that the person starts moving from an offending to a conventional life style and that is why they should be called ‘turning points’.
Q12. What did the authors think of the rehabilitation opportunities?
Although these persons considered that rehabilitation is something that they should be given credit for, not the correctional system, the narratives illustrate that the opportunities given by the correctional system increased their feelings of self-efficacy:
Q13. How did the authors analyze the life-history calendar?
In order to improve the timing of events in the life course (family, residence, education, job, drug abuse, time served in prison), participants completed an additional life-history calendar (Freedman et al.