A qualitative investigation into the impact of domestic abuse on women’s desistance

Abstract

While criminological literature, criminal justice practice, and to a lesser extent, state policy have acknowledged a link between women’s criminalisation and gendered violence (MoJ, 2018; Österman, 2018; Prison Reform Trust, 2017; Roberts, 2015), there has been much less acknowledgement of the role of historical and contemporaneous experiences of violence in the desistance scripts of criminalised women. Combining findings from two research projects exploring gender and desistance, this article argues that (i) criminalised women’s experiences of gendered violence are such that any exploration of gender and desistance which does not acknowledge this is incomplete, (ii) coercion and control can inform women’s entry into the criminal justice system, (iii) expressions of agency and resistance in abusive interpersonal relationships can also inform women’s offending, yet (iv) women’s experiences of desistance from crime can mask the harm they face in coercive, controlling, and violent relationships. Thus, the article argues for a reframing of desistance from crime as desistance from harm both theoretically and in practice, and considers what this might entail.

Good Intentions: Women’s Narratives of Post-Release Anticipatory Desistance in the Context of Historical and Contemporary Disadvantage and Trauma

“…Experiencing and witnessing violence pushed the women away from normative institutions of support, such as the family and school (DeHart, 2008), and into the company of antisocial peers with whom they engaged in drug use to manage the traumatic nature of their lives. In particular, intimate partners encouraged and enabled the women's drug use, both in heterosexual and lesbian relationships, which subsequently sustained the women's offending, reflective of previous research wherein romantic partners have proved to be a stimulus for offending rather than encouraging of prosociality for women (Barr & Christian, 2019;Barry, 2007). These experiences entrenched the women in cycles of drug use and offending which eventually led to their imprisonment.…”

“…Representing a critical feminist approach to understanding desistance is an emerging body of work focused on the structural conditions of women's criminalization and desistance (Barr, 2019;Barr & Christian, 2019;Hart, 2017;Hart & Van Ginneken, 2017;Österman, 2018). Bearing witness to the detrimental impacts of gendered disadvantage and trauma, Hart (2017) explored how 19 women serving prison sentences of 3 years or more in England prepared for life on the outside, finding that inadequacy of all forms of capital impeded the ability of the women to engage with resettlement services, hampering their chances of desisting long-term.…”

Being a ‘good woman’: Stigma, relationships and desistance

“…Shame and stigma, this paper argues, are located in the women's experiences of both criminalisation and victimisation, and are evident in their interpersonal relationships with families, friends, as well as with service providers, for example probation and partner agency staff. Our research suggests that positive relationships which challenge feelings of shame and stigmatisation are essential to women's desistance both from crime and harm (Barr, 2019;Barr and Christian, 2019), with conclusions considering some implications for practice.…”

De la réhabilitation au désistement assisté : transcender le modèle médical1

“…Les théories intégratives du désistement assisté (par ex. : F. -Dufour et al, 2015 ;McNeill, 2006) reconnaissent l'interdépendance des personnes et décrivent le changement dans le parcours de vie comme un processus fondamentalement social et relationnel (Barr et Christian, 2019 ;Kirkwood, 2016). Cela inclut les relations avec les acteurs du système judiciaire (Burke et al, 2018).…”