How Offenders Transform Their Lives PDF
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How Offendersv6_ppc.qxd 7/7/09 19:36 Page 1 How Offenders Transform Their Lives Edited by Bonita M. Veysey, Johnna Christian and Damian J. Martinez At a time when the scale of imprisonment in the United States has reached a historic high, researchers estimate that more than 600,000 individuals a year are released from prison to return to their home communities. These individuals have serious needs, such as finding employment and housing, reuniting with family members, and obtaining How Offenders healthcare and treatment for alcohol and substance abuse problems. Similar patterns are emerging in the UK, Europe and elsewhere in the world where rates of impris- onment continue to rise. Transform While research in this area has stressed these aspects of the transition from prison, a less explored area of research considers the role of internal identity shifts from that of an offender to one of citizen, and how this creates the conditions for desistance from criminal behavior both within the confines of a correctional facility and in the reentry proces. Their Lives This book presents a series of studies (mostly qualitative) that investigate individual identity transformation from offender status to pro-social, non-offending roles. Moreover, the work in this volume highlights the perspectives of the men and women who are current or formerly incarcerated people. Each piece provides an empirical analysis of the interaction between current or former prisoners and innovative pro- social programs and networks, which are grounded in the most current theoretical work about individual transformation and change. This book will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers and lecturers in all fields within the social sciences, but especially criminology and criminal justice and sociology and social work/welfare, as well as practitioners in social work and criminal justice sectors. The editors Bonita M. Veysey is Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark; Johnna Christian and Damian J. Martinez are both Assistant Professors in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark. Contributors Johnna Christian, M. Kay Harris, Bryn Herrschaft, Emma Hughes, Russ Immarigeon, Suzanne Kurth, Thomas P. LeBel, Damian J. Martinez, Shadd Maruna, Nick Mitchell, Merry Morash, Michelle Naples, Barbara Owen, Lois Presser, Heather Tubman-Carbone, Bonita M. Veysey. Edited by Bonita M. Veysey, Academic and Professional Publisher of the Year 2008 International Achievement Johnna Christian and of the Year 2009 www.wilanpublishing.co.uk Damian J. Martinez Edited by How Offenders Transform Their Lives Bonita M. Veysey, Johnna Christian and Damian J. Martinez j:book 30-6-2009 p:1 c:0 How Offenders Transform Their Lives j:book 30-6-2009 p:2 c:0 Cambridge Criminal Justice Series Published in association with the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge Published titles Community Penalties: Change and Challenges, edited by Anthony Bottoms, Loraine Gelsthorpe and Sue Rex Ideology, Crime and Criminal Justice: A Symposium in Honour of Sir Leon Radzinowicz, edited by Anthony Bottoms and Michael Tonry Reform and Punishment: The Future of Sentencing, edited by Sue Rex and Michael Tonry Confronting Crime: Crime Control Policy under New Labour, edited by Michael Tonry Sex Offenders in the Community: Managing and Reducing the Risks, edited by Amanda Matravers j:book 30-6-2009 p:3 c:0 How Offenders Transform Their Lives Edited by Bonita M. Veysey, Johnna Christian and Damian J. Martinez j:book 30-6-2009 p:4 c:0 Published by Willan Publishing Culmcott House Mill Street, Uffculme Cullompton, Devon EX15 3AT, UK Tel: ;44(0)1884 840337 Fax: ;44(0)1884 840251 e-mail: infoVwillanpublishing.co.uk Website: www.willanpublishing.co.uk Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by Willan Publishing c/o ISBS, 920 NE 58th Ave, Suite 300, Portland, Oregon 97213-3786, USA Tel: ;001(0)503 287 3093 Fax: ;001(0)503 280 8832 e-mail: infoVisbs.com Website: www.isbs.com The editors and contributors 2009 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting copying in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. First published 2009 ISBN 978-1-84392-508-8 paperback 978-1-84392-509-5 hardback British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Project managed by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock, Devon Typeset by TW Typesetting, Plymouth, Devon Printed and bound by T J International Ltd, Trecerus Industrial Estate, Padstow, Cornwall j:book 30-6-2009 p:5 c:0 Contents List of tables vii Notes on contributors ix 1 Identity transformation and offender change 1 Bonita M. Veysey, Damian J. Martinez and Johnna Christian 2 Moments of transformation: formerly incarcerated individuals’ narratives of change 12 Johnna Christian, Bonita M. Veysey, Bryn Herrschaft and Heather Tubman-Carbone 3 Looking-glass identity transformation: Pygmalion and Golem in the rehabilitation process 30 Shadd Maruna, Thomas P. LeBel, Michelle Naples and Nick Mitchell 4 Former prisoners, their family members, and the transformative potential of support 56 Damian J. Martinez 5 ‘I got a quick tongue’: negotiating ex-convict identity in mixed company 72 Lois Presser and Suzanne Kurth 6 Thinking inside the box: prisoner education, learning identities, and the possibilities for change 87 Emma Hughes 7 Accounts of change and resistance among women prisoners 104 Barbara Owen 8 Parole supervision, change in the self, and desistance from substance use and crime 124 Merry Morash 9 Identity change through the transformation model of the public safety initiative of LIFERS, Inc. 143 M. Kay Harris v j:book 30-6-2009 p:6 c:0 How Offenders Transform Their Lives 10 Formerly incarcerated persons’ use of advocacy/activism as a coping orientation in the reintegration process 165 Thomas P. LeBel 11 Lessons learned about offender change: implications for criminal justice policy 188 Russ Immarigeon Index 205 vi j:book 30-6-2009 p:7 c:0 List of tables 2.1 Characteristics of all and formerly incarcerated participants 17 2.2 Moments of transformation 21 3.1 Dimensions in the client typology 44 8.1 Intensity of supervision and one-year post release outcomes for women in gender responsive and traditional county 128 10.1 Descriptive statistics 176 10.2 The advocacy orientation scale 177 10.3 Regression analysis results for the advocacy/activism orientation scale 178 10.4 Relationship between the advocacy/activism orientation and outcomes 179 vii j:book 30-6-2009 p:8 c:0 . j:book 30-6-2009 p:9 c:0 Notes on contributors Johnna Christian is Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark. She received her PhD in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany, State University of New York. In 2004 she was the National Institute of Justice W.E.B. Dubois fellow and conducted a study of family members’ connections to incarcerated individuals. She is currently the Co-Principal Investigator of a research project evaluating family oriented reentry programs for juveniles. Dr Christian is also conducting a qualitative study of the process of identity transformation and recovery. She has published articles about prison visitation and the social and economic implications of family connections to prisoners. She recently co-authored a policy guide aimed at criminal justice agencies, community-based organizations, schools, and other stakeholders, with concrete strategies for addressing the needs of offenders’ families in the reentry process. M. Kay Harris is a member of the Graduate Faculty in the Department of Criminal Justice and an Affiliated Professor of Women’s Studies at Temple University. She has conducted policy-oriented research on positive peer intervention and cognitive transformation, reducing jail and prison crowding, community corrections legislation, programs for women in the justice system, restorative and community justice, and judicial interven- tion in corrections. She teaches in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program and is an external member of the Steering Committee of the Lifers Public Safety Initiative at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford, PA. Previously Kay held positions with the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the National Moratorium on Prison Construc- tion, the American Bar Association’s Resource Center on Correctional Law and Legal Services, the Attorney General of the United States, the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, and the federal Bureau of Prisons. ix
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