Desistance: A Utopian Perspective
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Author | DAVID PATTON,STEPHEN FARRALL |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12406 |
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 2. June 2021 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12406
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 209–231
Desistance: A Utopian Perspective
DAVID PATTON and STEPHEN FARRALL
David Patton is Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Derby; Stephen
Farrall is Professor in Criminology, University of Derby
Abstract: The written diaries of 43 adult male respondents from a prison sample that had
participated in a restorative justice intervention reveal a nuanced and dynamic process of
desistance via their hopes and pains of anticipated desistance at the micro, meso and macro
levels. A utopian reading of the respondents’ hopes and pains of desistance is developed
which reveals that their diaries express a utopian vision that is not just personal, but also
inherently political, radical, collective and transformative. Their pains of desistance on
the other hand, reveal a critique and condemnation of the current societal and structural
apparatus. The necessity for radical and collective change is clear, if desisters and society
are to reach their full potential.
Keywords: desistance; hope; social change; utopia
The study of desistance from crime has received considerable attention in
the last 20 years. Despite this focused body of work, gaps in our knowledge
remain. This article contributes to this body of work via the exploration of
the hopes and pains of desistance, employing as it does a utopian lens.
We are not the first to draw connections between the desire to desist from
crime and the concept of a utopia. Recently, Graham and McNeill (2017)
made the link between utopian sociology and criminology,and highlighted
some initial links to desistance. Building on Graham and McNeill’s theoret-
ical discussion, we shed more light on how the conceptual work on utopias
can aid thinking and practice related to desistance via an encounter with
empirical data. Herein we develop a utopian reading of the respondents’
diaries to consider how individual hopes and pains of desistance may not
just point to personal hopes for their future and anticipated barriers they
may face, but may also provide a critique of the present as well as a soci-
etal vision that requires radical change to permit desisters and society to
reach their full potential. The desistance literature has made a significant
contribution to our understanding of the complex and dynamic process
of transitioning from a life of crime (Graham and McNeill 2017; Maruna
2017; Sampson and Laub 1993). Recognising and studying the lived expe-
riences of individuals in the processes associated with desistance provides
209
C
2021 The Authors. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice published by Howard League
and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
The Howard Journal Vol60 No 2. June 2021
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 209–231
legitimacy, methodological integrity and political authority. This general
approach, however, critics have argued, has also overly decontextualised
and depoliticised crime from its social-structural roots, producing anal-
yses that are seen as being too individualistic, too agentic, and ‘over-
responsibilising’ of desisters, providing a reductionist account of crime
(Carlton and Baldry 2013; Scraton 2014). In our view, while such criti-
cisms have some merit, they neglect the fact that many studies of desistance
reject rational choice theories of change, adopt a symbolic interactionist
approach or attempt to acknowledge factors and processes beyond the in-
dividual (Farrall 2005; Giordano, Cernkovich and Rudolph 2002; LeBel
et al. 2008; Maruna 2011; see also contributions to Farrall (2019)).
There has simultaneously been a renaissance of interest in utopia
within criminology (Copson 2013; Graham and McNeill 2017; Malloch and
Munro 2013; Scott and Gosling 2016). Unlike the everyday understanding
of utopia as the unrealistic, wild and fantastical dreamings of a perfect so-
ciety, Levitas (2013) defines utopia as ‘the expression of desire for a better
way of living and of being’ (p.4). In this way, our use of the concept of
utopia allows us a way of critiquing existing structures and opportunities
for those trying to leave crime behind. The overlap here with the process
of desistance via the three spheres of desistance (primary, secondary and
tertiary desistance) is apparent. Primary desistance (Maruna and Farrall
2004) describes ‘any lull or crime-free gap … in the course of a criminal
career’ (p.175) (and is not seen as being terribly interesting in research
terms by Maruna and Farrall). Secondary desistance, on the other hand,
is ‘the movement from the behaviour of non-offending to the assumption
of a role or identity of a non-offender or “changed person”’ (Maruna and
Farrall 2004, p.175). In this phase, the former-offender not only ceases to
offend, but (quoting Lemert 1951, p.76) ‘existing roles become disrupted’
and there is a ‘reorganization based upon a new role or roles’. Primary de-
sistance, Maruna and Farrall (2004, p.175) expect to occur ‘only sporadi-
cally’ and for ‘short periods’, typically weeks or months, while secondary
desistance, given that it will involve more sustained efforts at conformity,
ought to last for longer periods, slowing, over time, being the ’new nor-
mal’. More recently,McNeill (2016, p.201) has added the notion of tertiary
desistance to refer ‘not just to shifts in behaviour or identity but to shifts
in one’s sense of belonging to a (moral and political) community’, encom-
passing ‘how one sees one’s place in society’ and how one is seen by others’.
Levitas (2000, p.28) further suggests that utopian visions can also be de-
veloped as a compensation for what is missing and lacking in the present; as
acritique of the ills of a society, and as a means for change that inspires the
aspirational pursuit towards a world transformed. These are topics that we
shall return to later.
Despite the criticisms levelled at desistance studies, Graham and
McNeill, (2017) question how individual ‘experiences are best gathered,
understood and explained, with critical emphasis on the reciprocal influ-
ences of context and structure’ (p.12). It is argued herein that the con-
cept of utopia as a lens through which to view the hopes and pains of
desistance provides an answer to the issue of how individual desires to
210
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2021 The Authors. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice published by Howard League
and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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