Transforming the Prison:

Abstract

This article explores the use of appreciative inquiry [Al] in a number of prisons, with different outcomes. It considers the nature of the Al process, both as a mode of inquiry and a mode of transformation. There are some links, in terms of the underlying principles, between Al and restorative justice and these are explored by the authors. They conclude that Al constitutes a fair and inclusive research approach that generates a rich and faithful account of a prison to emerge. It generates energy among prison staff that can be harnessed in the direction of better practice. But there are dangers when highly motivated prison officers are frustrated by a lack of responsiveness by senior managers in their `wishes for the prison', however understandable the reasons for this. The mechanism at work is a normative process, which seems to engage the research participants in meaningful, constructive and ethically relevant dialogue about their practices and experiences. The special and complex moral environment of the prison makes Al especially relevant.

The Spirituality of Carceral Citizenship: “Making Your Test Your Testimony”

“…To overcome staff reluctance, appreciative inquiry is a research strategy that explores what stakeholders like best about the setting and taking care to highlight institutional successes. While not ignoring institutional shortcomings, intentional effort is also put into identification of what is “working well.” Liebling and colleagues note the value of querying staff about their “best days on the job” and specific instances where staff felt good about their work (Liebling et al 2001:166). Like any strategy for social science research, Appreciative Inquiry offers only a partial depiction of institutional life, but one that strives for balance and a research stance of neutrality (Liebling et al 1999).…”

The moral and emotional world of police informants

“…In other words, it is valuable to highlight the person comprising the police officer (Fassin, 2015). This is perhaps a theoretical and methodological oddity for critical policing scholarship, but it is nevertheless an endeavour that speaks to the appreciative inquiry operationalized in criminological studies (Liebling et al, 2001), including those on policing (Jardine, 2020; Skinns et al, 2021). Adopting an appreciative approach would serve research on informants well because of its ability to render visible aspects of contemporary police handler culture and emotional labour (and discomfort), which could otherwise remain hidden.…”

A New Approach for Researching Victims: The ‘Strength-Growth-Resilience’ Framework

“…Ethically, AI aims to take better care of informants and participants in research. It seeks to be inclusive, to listen and empower, to facilitate change and to increase the delivery of fairness and respect in the future (Liebling et al 2001). Thus, the sense of ownership of the project by research participants can extend beyond their specific contribution to include the outcomes and outputs of the research (Reed 2007).…”