Talking Good: Analysing Narratives of Desistance in Norway

Abstract

Despite significant research interest in Norwegian penality, there remains much to be learned about how people in Norway experience life during and after punishment. This article is one of the first to explore the lived experience of desistance as narrated by Norwegian desisters. We analyse ‘small stories’ that either opened up or frustrated the co-creation of change, showing how desistance develops (or is stymied) at a micro level. Our analytical framework helped us understand our informants as active subjects navigating a complex terrain of psychological, relational and systemic processes. Informants described a long-term, unfinalized desistance process, leading in some cases to an extended experience of liminality and welfare supplication.

Radical hope and processes of becoming: Examining short-term prisoners’ imagined futures in England & Wales and Norway

“…Many desistance studies report that people often want to ‘make good’ (Maruna, 2001), quit crime and lead ‘normal’ lives (Shapland and Bottoms, 2011: 262), but the way we understand and imagine our past and future—and the change in between—affects what futures seem possible and likely (Ugelvik, 2021). Since desistance requires a developing sense of what the future will hold and how this will be realized, prisons play an important part in shaping what can even be imagined.…”

“…There are always possibilities for transformation and growth in prisons, but these are shaped mostly by interpersonal encounters, which emphasizes the importance of being believed, and being seen as an emergent person. While transformative climates are a rarity in prison (see Auty and Liebling, 2019) a few have been identified in England & Wales and Norway (see Liebling et al, 2019; Ugelvik, 2021). These prisons have been coined as ‘reinventive’ because they ‘allow positive forms of moral reflection and change, without the normal harms of punitive sequestration’ (Crewe and Ievins, 2019: 583).…”

‘Thank you for having me’: The experiences and meanings of release from prison in Norway and England & Wales

“…While there is a lack of literature specifically on the moment of release, there is plentiful literature showing that preparing for release, reintegrating into the community and desistance can be a lengthy process, fraught with difficulty and confusion (Durnescu, 2018(Durnescu, , 2019Fredriksson and Gålnander, 2020;Johns, 2018;Todd-Kvam and Todd-Kvam, 2021;Uggen et al, 2004;Travis, 2003, 2011;Western, 2018, among others). This can be the case even when coming from relatively nonpunitive and open prison conditions (Mjåland et al, 2021;Shammas, 2014).…”

‘Facilitator-coordinators’ or ‘umbilical cords’: Staff experiences of supporting desistance following release from prison

“…In this period, often characterized by ambivalence and pain related to personal change (Healy, 2012; Hunter and Farrall, 2018; King, 2013; Nugent and Schinkel, 2016), staff members can provide beneficial, safe and stable foundations. Research in Norway emphasizes interaction based on staff members’ trust and belief in individual change (Todd-Kvam and Todd-Kvam, 2022; Ugelvik, 2022). Probational staff have also underlined interest, understanding and reciprocity as key ingredients in relationships with probationers (Todd-Kvam, 2020).…”