Cultures of Desistance by Adam Calverley

Author:Adam Calverley [Calverley, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology
ISBN: 9780415672610
Google: -0_cDZkDx-oC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-01-15T05:44:02+00:00

In sum, the UK’s Black population are characterised by social and economic disadvantage. This is seen in a number of features of their lives ranging from their position within the labour market to education and housing.

Black and dual heritage interviewees: processes of desistance

In one important respect the Black and dual heritage cases in my sample varied greatly from the Bangladeshi and Indian cases: family structure. Whereas the latter two ethnic groups largely originated from families that were ‘intact’ (the exception being where one parent had died) and where they remained tightly bonded to immediate and (often) extended family members, the Black and dual heritage group was drawn from families that were often fragmented and were much more loosely bonded. This raises the question: do these structural differences produce differences in terms of desistance? Do they result in different motivations to desist and means with which to do so? Are different processes responsible for promoting desistance for Black and dual heritage offenders from those found for the Indian and Bangladeshi offenders?

In many ways what is remarkable about the motivations expressed by the Black and dual heritage desisters is not that they differ from those of Indian and Bangladeshi desisters, but that they share so much in common. All three groups could be said to fit into the same patterns identified by Burnett (2000) in her categories of ‘avoiders’ and ‘converts’; although, as in her study, these were not mutually exclusive and interviewees often reported motives for stopping found in both ‘types’. Over half the Black and dual heritage sample (ten out of fourteen respondents) could be described as ‘avoiders’: that is they said they were committed to desisting because they did not want to repeat their experiences of prison. Within this category the primary desire to avoid prison varied from those who feared that a further sentence would involve a much longer period of incarceration (Stephen, Joseph); to those that thought it would render meaningless all the efforts that they had invested in to date, such as building up good relationships with family members (Paul, Linton, Daniel); to those that thought it would disrupt their plans for the future (Stephen again, Daniel, Henry,) and it was time to ‘settle down’ (Jed); or to those who felt that they were ‘burnt out’ and were physically incapable of withstanding a further sentence (Joseph, Frank).

At the same time, the rationalisations of half of the sample (seven out of fourteen respondents) fitted Burnett’s description of ‘converts’ who were confident that they would not return to offending. This was because they had found new interests that now preoccupied them, such as family (Paul), a valuable relationship with a partner (Linton, Stuart) or new pursuits and vocational ambitions (Kwame). Others felt that having worked long and hard at reforming themselves they had overturned the values they had previously held when involved in crime (Leonard, Keith). While there was a larger proportion of Bangladeshi (nine out of fourteen cases) and Indian (five out of eight cases) interviewees in

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