‘From disaster to master’: Exploring the journey beyond desistance in Ireland
| Author | David Williamson,Wayne Hart,Deirdre Healy |
| DOI | 10.1177/2066220320907109 |
| Published date | 01 April 2020 |
| Date | 01 April 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/2066220320907109
European Journal of Probation
2020, Vol. 12(1) 53 –71
© The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/2066220320907109
journals.sagepub.com/home/ejp
‘From disaster to master’:
Exploring the journey
beyond desistance in Ireland
Wayne Hart
Deirdre Healy
University College Dublin, Ireland
David Williamson
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Abstract
Desistance scholars maintain that innovative and sustainable mechanisms are needed
to support the enhancement of human development. Failure to desist is often
attributed to limited personal agency and structural disadvantages such as a lack
of education attainment and meaningful employment. Therefore, it is argued that
criminal justice responses should break down educational and employment barriers in
the desistance process, if we are to help remove hurdles to both social cohesion and
social integration. To provide additional insights into this phenomenon, this article
presents an autobiographical, reflective and experiential account of these challenges in
the life of a desister from multiple perspectives. The narrative reveals that the change
process extends beyond the attainment of education and meaningful employment,
and describes the challenges faced by both work colleagues and the desister. These
accounts are accompanied by a reflective academic commentary that situates these
personal work experiences within the wider desistance literature, helping to add a
critical appraisal of existing knowledge as viewed through the lens of one person’s
desistance process over a 10-year period through education and into employment.
Keywords
Agency, desistance, Ireland, probation, structure
Corresponding author:
Wayne Hart, Criminology, University College Dublin, UCD Belfield Dublin 4, Ireland.
Email: wayne.hart@ucdconnect.ie
907109EJP0010.1177/2066220320907109European Journal of ProbationHart et al.
2020
Original Article
54 European Journal of Probation 12(1)
It is thought that agency and structure play important roles in the transition from the
identity of ‘offender’ to ‘ex-offender’. Yet, despite a growing theoretical literature, little
is known about how people use agency in their interactions with the social world to
achieve valued goals (but see Healy, 2014; King, 2013). In particular, there seems to be
little or no research regarding offenders who have turned their lives around and become
responsible and productive members of society (but see Aresti et al., 2010; Maruna,
2001). Within the desistance literature, the long-term desister is variously portrayed as an
agent who maintains a crime-free life (Giordano et al., 2002; Maruna, 2001), enacts a
new identity as a ‘wounded healer’ (Maruna, 2001), develops the ability to form good
quality pro-social bonds (Laub and Sampson, 2001) and achieves social inclusion (Barry,
2016; Nugent and Schinkel, 2016). However, there is a lack of research on how agency
and structural processes are experienced by the long-term desister after these transitional
markers are attained (LeBel et al., 2015). Related to this, there is a lack of research on the
social response of others to desisters in the latter stages of the change process, particu-
larly the criminal justice professionals who work alongside ‘wounded healers’ or ‘pro-
fessional exes’ (LeBel et al., 2015).
This piece aims to explore these issues by offering an autobiographical, reflective and
experiential account of the challenges and opportunities that arise in such work environ-
ments, as viewed by an ex-offender with an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice
who is also employed in the criminal justice sector. His account is accompanied by the
reflections of another practitioner in his workplace who does not possess lived experi-
ence of offending or desistance and an academic with expertise in the field of desistance
research. The discussion follows on from an earlier article by Hart and Healy (2018),
which used a desistance-based framework to chart the middle ground between the per-
sonal and the general, exploring the gap between desistance as portrayed in the academic
literature and as lived by the desister. Ultimately, this analysis highlighted that desistance
was a process, emerging gradually over time through an ongoing interaction between
structure, social bonds and agency. Cognitive transformations, the development of
healthy bonds, education and a supportive relationship with probation staff were all
implicated in this process, suggesting that desistance is a complex, open-ended and
multi-directional process. From the current piece of work and article title (I was called a
‘disaster’ most my life but have become a ‘master’ since completing the MSc pro-
gramme) it will be clear that the past does not need to define who the ex-offender is
today; it is a small, yet relevant, part of the life beyond desistance. Autoethnographic
research is relatively rare in the criminological literature but has the potential to make a
valuable contribution to the study of desistance. The uniqueness of this approach means
that traditional markers of research quality and rigor (such as generalisability) are not
always applicable. Instead, Dashper (2016) argues that the quality of autoethnographic
research should be assessed according to a different set of criteria; for instance, whether
the account engages the reader through personal and emotional accounts of lived experi-
ences (i.e. shows rather than tells); whether the story is credible (i.e. conveys facts and
feelings) and whether the story contributes to knowledge (e.g. by situating personal
accounts within the wider academic literature). In this regard, Dashper (2016) notes that
personal narratives are always deeply embedded within wider socio-cultural contexts
and are thus capable of transcending the individual story to shed light on social issues.
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