Book Reviews

AuthorJake Phillips, Anne Robinson

CULTURES OF DESISTANCE: REHABILITATION, REINTEGRATION AND ETHNIC MINORITIES.

Adam Calverley (2013) Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 230pp. Pbk £26.99. ISBN 978-0415623483

Adam Calverley's book is a long-due addition to the criminological literature on desistance. In the last two decades, research on desistance has extensively dissected the elements of this process of change, identifying how both structural and personal factors come into play and influence the outcomes of this life-changing process. Despite these wide investigations, the factors associated with ethnicity have been left mostly unexplored, especially in relation to UK based research. Calverley's research represents a breakthrough in this direction and it is remarkably important as it poses the basis for reflection and further research on the cultural factors which affect desistance. This book would suit anybody interested in desistance, ethnicities, resettlement, and practitioners working with ethnic minorities.

This book explores the efforts to desist of a group of Indian, Bangladeshi, and Black and dual heritage males from the London boroughs of Hounslow, Tower Hamlets, and Lambeth respectively. The choice of limiting the sample to London and those ethnic groups is related to the pool of eligible participants in these boroughs. This choice reduces the possible comparisons which can be drawn across different minorities. Also, the choice of these London boroughs (as recognised by Calverley) might have affected the dynamics of desistance identified in the study, which might be affected by this social context more than ethnicity. In addition, while this research is about ethic minorities’ experience of desistance, its findings are not simply restricted to those communities or naively generalised to each single ethnic minority. Calverley recognises the limitations of this research and brilliantly uses its findings for a wider reflection on the wider issues related to desistance research and the policies which must develop from it.

The research steps from Calverley's PhD thesis and, with this in mind, it is hard to fault this book. Surely the research would have benefited from a wider range of nationalities, a ‘control group’ of white Londoners, or of persisters from the same minority groups, or even a short longitudinal design. However, it must be recognised that it would have been demanding to add anything more to the already ambitious design of this research. Thirty-three in-depth semi-structured interviews with ex-offenders have been conducted, together with ten interviews with professionals working with minorities. This design has given the opportunity to start exploring desistance, and contrast them between different ethnic groups and in relation to literature.

The book is a gem in relation to the theoretical coverage of the issues related to desistance and ethnicity. Calverley has succeeded in the effort to condense an extensive amount of literature in the space of a book. The book is a detailed exploration of the literature and a very thorough examination of the socio-economic, historical and sociological background of each single minority. The way Calverley writes and the structure of the chapters is very helpful in fully understanding the historical background from which these communities come from.

The same detailed approach is maintained throughout the book. Findings are presented separately for each minority and are articulated in a manner that shows the wealth of knowledge and analytical thinking which has gone in writing this book. The analytical strategy adopted in chapters 4, 5, and 6 draws from the historical structural-personal dichotomy usually found in literature, discussing the main social and personal factors involved in desistance. The author goes a step further in the following chapter 7. Embracing the latest developments in desistance research (promoting a more holistic approach in the analysis of the factors related to desistance), this chapter is organised in three sections looking at the macro, meso and micro factors involved in desistance. With socio-historical, economic, and social policy attitudes included in the macro-level; community and neighbourhood, and religion at the meso-level; and agency, identity, family, and hooks for change at the micro-level. This analytical approach is what makes this book outstanding in comparison to previous desistance literature. This overview remarkably focusses on a neglected portion of population, and, also, the contemporary attention to these three levels of analysis represents a useful analytical and narrative device for two interconnected reasons: first, it reminds the reader (and especially researchers interested in personal change) that even the most individual or psychological event is closely interdependent and interconnected to the social background in which it takes place; second, that to fully understand the process of desistance, one has to keep track and analyse both at the individual and the social (or structural) level. This need becomes evident when trying to translate research findings in policies aimed at promoting desistance. For example, as highlighted in this research in the case of black and dual heritage desisters, the indications for practitioners to support the (re)establishment of family ties must be accompanied with enhancing personal development and the support in entering in the job market: the desisters from this minority background highlighted how family support for the necessary process of embracing a new non-criminal identity is conditional to obtaining recognition from the social context, for example, by finding a job. This was the cause of much distress for Calverley's interviewees as, because of factors at the meso and macro level, the ‘hooks for change’ needed were almost absent. Also, widely recognised factors supportive of desistance, such as the ‘knifing off’ from the criminal peers did not reach the desired effects showed in previous desistance research; rather, moving away from London was associated to increased racism and negative effect on their prosocial identity.

In summary, this research satisfactorily sheds some light on the processes of desistance of three main ethnical minorities. It shows how social and cultural factors, such as family, religion, or the neighbourhood, can have a significant effect on desistance. It also shows how the desisters' specific situation impacts upon the effects of structural and personal factors, which have long been associated to success in the process of desistance and should not be taken for granted. This book, besides being a must have, is an eye opener, and a cornerstone for future research in desistance.

Fabio Tartarini, PhD candidate, Cambridge University

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN TRANSITION

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