Art, Science and
Desistance from Crime
Fergus McNeill
Fergus.McNeill@glasgow.ac.uk
1
Twitter: @fergus_mcneill
The plan…
• First a brief and selective review of the
‘science’ about the process of desistance
• Then some evidence about the impact and
potential of the arts in inspiring desistance
• Finally, some speculations about the
relationships between arts, science and
desistance….
Why desistance matters
• Studying desistance forces us away from static models of people
as ‘offenders’, ‘criminals’ or ‘prisoners’ and encourages an
understanding of change(s) in personal identities, behaviours,
belonging
• If we aim to reduce reoffending and to promote successful
reintegration/re-entry, then desistance theory and research can
and should inform the redesign of our institutions, cultures and
practices
• Caveat emptor: This is not a program, a product or a solution; it
is a body of evidence in which policy, practice and community
development should be embedded
– A bit like the way in which educational approaches need to
be embedded in an understanding of child development.
Definitions
• Persistence and desistance
• Desistance as a process not an event
• ‘Natural’ versus ‘assisted’ desistance
(rehabilitation)
• Primary and secondary desistance
– Constraint-based, calculative, habitual and
normative compliance
– Secondary desistance and constructive,
generative citizenship
Age and
Maturation
Explaining
desistance
Narratives
Identities
Life
Transitions,
Social Bonds
From Bottoms and
Shapland (2011: 70)
Some key lessons about
desistance journeys
• They are complex processes, not events, characterised by
ambivalence and vacillation
• The involve re-biography (at the time or post hoc) ; changing
identities (narratives); more than learning new cognitive skills
• Prompted by life events, depending on the meaning of those
events for the offender; inherently subjective, hence
individualised, sensitive to difference/diversity
• Solicited or sustained by someone ‘believing in’ the offender (or
prevented by someone giving up on the offender?)... Hope
• An active process in which agency is discovered and exercised
• Requires social capital (opportunities) as well as human capital
(capacities/skills) –alters the context of (terrain for) the journey
• Certified through ‘redemption’ or restoration (de-labelling);
finding purpose in generative activities [constructive reparation ]
Supporting desistance
Social change
Personal
change
Principles
• Researchinformed
• Realistic
• Co-productive
• Hope
• Strengths
• Agency
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Constraints
Social capital
Recognition
Reintegration
What role for the arts?
This section is based on:
• Anderson, K., Colvin, S., McNeill, F., Nellis, M., Overy, K.,
Sparks, R and Tett, L. (2011) Inspiring Change: Final Project
Report of the Evaluation Team. Details online at:
http://www.artsevidence.org.uk/evaluations/inspiringchange-final-project-report-evaluation-t/
• McNeill, F., Anderson, K., Colvin, S., Overy, K., Sparks, R. and
Tett, L. (2011) ‘Kunstprojecten en What Works; een stimulans
voor desistance?’ (Trans. ‘Inspiring Desistance? Arts projects
and ‘what works?’) Justitiele verkenningen 37(5): 80-101:
http://blogs.iriss.org.uk/discoveringdesistance/files/2011/09/
McNeill-et-al.-2011-Inspiring-Desistance.pdf
Prisons, arts and desistance
• Prisons are not promising contexts
for desistance from crime insofar
as they tend to
– Delay maturation
– Disrupt social bonds
– Cement negative identities
Age and
Maturation
Explaining
desistance
Narratives
Identities
Life
Transitions,
Social Bonds
The arts in prisons
• Key claims of recent research on the arts in
prisons include:
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Developing better relationships between prisoners
Developing better relationships with prison staff
Developing better relationships with their families
Improving self-esteem and self-confidence
Improving engagement with learning
Developing communication and social skills
Enabling people to work as part of a group
– £££Reducing reoffending???
Steps towards change
• Caveats
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Participants’ realism
No long term follow-up
Limited opportunity to ‘test’ progress
No easy way to measure behavioural change
• But
– Qualitative data captures important steps towards
secondary desistance
– Coding: Maturation, Social Bonds, Identity
Choices and chances
INT: …Do you think that these projects are meaningful to have in
prisons?
LISA: Aye, they are meaningful.
SHIRLEY: They help people find themselves, as well. You learn
about yourself.
LISA: Like people don't think they're good at things and then
they realize that, aye, they are.
SHIRLEY: They are talented. Or maybe they make bonds with
people and it makes it easier for them, some of them. Do
you know what I mean?
INT: Yeah, definitely. So, I think it's those things, which could
maybe contribute later to whether you reoffend, or not.
LISA: Aye. (National Portrait Galleries, Greenock, post)
Maturation
ALEC: Oh, aye, every single one of us will have to make
that decision of whether we go to the licensed grocers
or whether we go get the bus straight home. Every
single one of us is going to have to make that choice.
Because every single one of us has been locked up for
X amount of time.
INT: Right.
ALEC: And we all have X amount of things that we want
to do.
JOHN: I know.
ALEC: And our family want us to come home.
(Citizens Theatre, Barlinnie)
Social Bonds: Family
RAB: You got to remember. They’re out there sticking by us.
Putting up with all this crap, know what I mean? And it’s the
good things they should be involved in as well, in our life, you
know?
KENNY: When we are put in prison, it’s not just us that’s punished.
It’s our families as well.
RAB: Aye, everybody round about us.
KENNY: So, when you’re doing something like this, it’s letting
them see that you’re trying to better your ways, so to speak.
You’re not just in here being a thug. (Traverse Theatre, Castle
Huntly)
ALEC: …It was almost like you're family were coming to visit you
at the end of your shift at work. (Citizens Theatre, Barlinnie)
Social Bonds: Networks
ALEC: Also I thought it gave me the opportunity to get in touch
with people outside as well.
INT: Okay.
ALEC: You know, the Citizens Theatre. So it gave me maybe
some chance of work. Some chance of...
INT: connection.
ALEC: becoming integrated back into the community again
without having to rely on negativity, you know?
JOHN: Aye.
ALEC: And doors getting closed, you know? It afforded me the
opportunity for maybe some doors to get opened. (Citizens
Theatre, Barlinnie)
Identity (and performance)
You don’t know how it’s going to go down and you’re
in front of the governor and the deputy and what
not. I thought it was a success because I got my
message across. I enjoy what I do. Personally, I think
I’m quite good at it and people agreed with me, you
know what I mean? They thought it was good.
(Scottish Ensemble, Polmont)
The warden was there. All the social workers were
there. There was other people there. And it all
came together like a proper concert. Your family
could come in. I thought it was fantastic. Very good.
(Scottish Ensemble, Polmont)
Identity (and relationship)
ALEC: To get people to come into the prison and actually want to
work with us, you know, is amazing. It makes you feel quite
blessed, you know? To think that people come in here and
they want to help you put on a performance.
INT: Yeah.
ALEC: That's amazing cause I think sometimes people think
you're just a con. You're out of society. You're out of the
mould.
STEVE: And they didn't judge us, definitely.
ALEC: They weren't judgmental in any fashion.
INT: Yeah.
ALEC: They asked us questions. They wanted our input.
(Citizens Theatre, Barlinnie)
Methodological challenges
• Process and outcome, but what about when
the outcome is to progress a long-term
process?
• Intermediate, ‘soft’, theory-based (identity)
indicators versus ‘hard’ (behavioural) data
• Cost effectiveness? Short, medium or longterm?
• Secondary versus primary desistance
– What matters versus what counts
Singing a new song
Is desistance itself art?
• From often unpromising raw materials, in often
unpromising circumstances, people find the
inspiration and…
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Learn to sing a new song
Author a new story
Paint a new picture
Sculpt a new shape
• They dig the beauty out of the miry bog
• They find a new foundation
• If this is a (re)creative process, then we need to
nurture (re)creativity
Conclusions
Principles
Personal
change
Social
change
• Desistance (transformation) as art
• The art (and science) of personal
transformation
BUT ALSO
• The culture representation of transformation
• Culturally transformative arts