Assisted desistance and experiences of probation supervision
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550513478320 |
| Date | 01 June 2013 |
| Published date | 01 June 2013 |
| Author | Sam King |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Assisted desistance
and experiences of
probation supervision
Sam King
University of Leicester, UK
Abstract
The impact of probation interventions upon processes of desistance has become an
area of increased interest in recent years. Much of this research has been focused
upon the longer term processes of secondary desistance, often to the relative neglect of
processes associated with primary desistance. Some authors have recently begun to
examine in closer detail the nature of initial transitions towards desistance, and this
article aims to contribute to this area of research by examining the impact of probation
interventions on these early transitions. The findings show that experiences of pro-
bation can have a positive impact upon these desistance transitions yet, in keeping
with much recent research, probation offers little support for the socio-structural
aspects of desistance. The article concludes that these structural factors are likely to
be dealt with by external agencies, but that even these may not provide the necessary
support to facilitate longer term processes of desistance.
Keywords
agency, desistance, offender transitions, probation, reoffending, structural context
Introduction
There is a growing body of literature which has sought to examine the impact of
community-based criminal justice interventions on the processes by which individu-
als make the transition from a lifestyle characterized by criminality towards one of
conformity (Farrall, 2002; Farrall and Calverley, 2006; McCulloch, 2005; Rex,
Corresponding Author:
Sam King, Lecturer in Criminology, University of Leicester – Department of Criminology, The Friars, 154
Upper New Walk, Leicester LE1 7QA, United Kingdom.
Email: sk532@leicester.ac.uk
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
60(2) 136–151
ªThe Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550513478320
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1999; Robinson, 2005). This body of literature has primarily sought to identify the
factors relevant to probation practice which contribute to the personal and social
changes associated with desistance from crime. Much of the focus within the exist-
ing desistance literature has been upon the longer term processes of secondary
desistance, to the neglect of the issues related to primary desistance. This distinction
between these two ‘types’ of desistance is frequently made within the literature (for
example: Gadd, 2006; Maguire and Raynor, 2006; McNeill and Maruna, 2008;
Maruna et al., 2004; Maruna and Toch, 2005). Typically, primary desistance
refers to a crime-free gap or a lull in offending, while secondary desistance involves
the assumption of a new non-offender identity (Maruna et al., 2004). There are
debates around the relative merits of studying secondary rather than primary desis-
tance (Bottoms et al., 2004), but there is value in studying the early stages of pri-
mary desistance: partly because the mechanisms which underpin primary
desistance may be different from those which underpin secondary desistance
(Healy and O’Donnell, 2008), but also because experiences during primary desis-
tance may provide an insight into both how secondary desistance develops and
also into the specific areas which may be more appropriate for intervention. In this
article, primary desistance is regarded as the early transitional phase between
crime and conformity. Therefore, this conceptualization allows for the possibility
that the individual may be experiencing a lull in offending, and that this may
become a more permanent state of non-offending without any fundamental identity
change. However, it also allows for the possibility that the early transitional phase
marks the beginning of the journey towards identity transformation accompanied by
a state of non-offending.
In recent years there has been some effort to address the under-explored issue of
initial transitions towards desistance (Healy, 2010; Healy and O’Donnell, 2008;
Lloyd and Serin, 2011; Serin and Lloyd, 2009). This article aims to contribute to this
area of research by examining the impact of community-based interventions on such
desistance transitions. It does so by examining the experiences of probation from
the perspective of a small number of individuals who were placed under probation
supervision towards the end of New Labour’s third term in power. This offers a timely
opportunity to reflect upon the nature of probation supervision in recent years, par-
ticularly as the coalition government reviews its approach to working with offenders
(Ministry of Justice, 2010), and with the Justice Committee’s recent inquiry and sub-
sequent report into the role of the probation service (House of Commons, 2011).
The data utilized in this article is drawn from interviews conducted with proba-
tioners, the aim of which was to examine the context of probation and the impact it
has upon enabling and constraining initial transitions towards desistance. Partici-
pants’ perspectives on the aspects of probation supervision that relate to their
transitions towards desistance form the basis of the following discussion.
Assisted desistance
The development of the desistance literature has led to a number of researchers
exploring the links between the factors which assist individuals in the process of
King 137
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