Ontologies of Blame and the Cultural Value of Accountability

Abstract

Uniting the perspective of narrative psychology with feminist and narrative criminology, we analyzed interviews with 58 formerly incarcerated women. We identified four distinct ontologies of blame that the women used to characterize the events, actors, and circumstances that resulted in their incarceration. We argue that these four ontologies of blame-personal responsibility, socioeconomic exclusion, relational caregiving associations, and compromised decision-making-each derive from the dominant U.S. cultural value of accountability that accords great social, moral, and personal weight to accepting responsibility for, and expressing willingness to endure the consequences of, wrongdoing. Our findings suggest that academics and therapeutic practitioners could assist the formerly incarcerated women with whom they work by encouraging a critique of dominant cultural values; by expanding accountability from the individual to the community; by situating accountability in past, present, and future contexts; and by facilitating ontologies of security.

The Body, The Self: How Women Ex‐Offenders in a Re‐Entry Program Negotiate Gendered, Embodied Identities, and the Implications for Desistance

“…While this study emphasizes identity change, it is essential that it not be interpreted to mean that issues of crime and desistance revolve around women's problematic identities. This dangerous assertion is reflected in politicized rhetoric that focuses on psychologized notions of women's behaviors along with culturally valorized concepts of individualism promoted and reproduced in institutional and structural forces (Dewey et al 2018). Instead, such identity constructs reflect ideologies which permeate institutional dynamics and are symptomatic of entrenched social realities and inequalities.…”

Indicators of Criminal Justification or Repentance in a Qualitative Analysis of Inmates Autobiographical Criminal Self–Narratives

“…Given the potential of narrative research, similar studies could be extended to female inmates (Rowe, 2011), mothers in prison (Stone, 2016), and juvenile offenders (Fariña et al, 2010). However, there is still a lack of exploration of narratives in incarcerated women and, when they are analyzed, they correspond to dominant cultural values (Dewey et al, 2018). In addition, when gender identity is explored in narratives of offenders, literature tends to focus on the reconstruction of masculinity (Nandi, 2002).…”

‘You have been punished in prison. And then when you are released, you are punished for life’: Post-incarceration barriers for women in Ukraine

“…Morozova et al's (2013) quantitative study in the public health field illuminates the impending challenges facing prisoners 6 months prior to release. However, the findings do not account for gender differences in those challenges, and, as some scholars argue (Cantora, 2015;Carter, 2019;Dewey et al, 2018;Heidemann et al, 2016), a gendered approach is imperative to understanding women's reentry experiences to facilitate their successful integration in society. The present qualitative research study endeavors to contribute to this lacuna by illuminating the interlocking barriers women face post-incarceration in economically volatile Ukraine at the individual, relational, institutional, and systemic levels.…”

“…As Heidemann et al (2016) contend, ‘just as pathways into criminal justice involvement are gendered, so too are the pathways out of prison and back into the community’ (p. 25), which necessitates a gendered outlook into the barriers formerly incarcerated women face (Cantora, 2015; Carter, 2019; Dewey et al, 2018). Women’s reentry from prison is fraught with a myriad of individual, institutional, and systemic barriers.…”