The Arts of Desistance: Assessing the Role of Arts‐based Programmes in Reducing Reoffending
| Author | ALEKSANDRA JORDANOSKA,LEONIDAS CHELIOTIS |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12154 |
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Published date | 01 May 2016 |
The Howard Journal Vol55 No 1–2. May 2016 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12154
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 25–41
The Arts of Desistance: Assessing
the Role of Arts-based Programmes
in Reducing Reoffending
LEONIDAS CHELIOTIS and ALEKSANDRA JORDANOSKA
Leonidas Cheliotis is Assistant Professor of Criminology, Department of Social
Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science; Aleksandra
Jordanoska is Lecturer in Law, School of Law, Keele University
Abstract: This article offers a critical review of the empirical research literature on the
‘secondary’ or ‘soft’ contributions that arts-based programmes may make to the process of
desistance from crime. We begin by focusing on evaluations of arts-based programmes
run by practitioners inside prisons, and then proceed to address the effects of arts-
based prison programmes after participants’ release into the community; a theme that
has received very limited research attention to date, and even less attention in extant
literature reviews. In the next section of the article, we briefly discuss, for illustrative
purposes, our own evaluation of an arts-based programme that is aimed at prolonging
and enhancing ‘secondary desistance’ through providing ex-prisoners with opportunities
to continue engaging with the arts after release. Weconclude with a few short remarks as
to the lessons that can be drawn from this article for the design of arts-based programmes
in the field of criminal justice.
Keywords: desistance; arts in criminal justice; research evaluation; criminal
justice policy
Over recent decades, practitioner-run programmes based on the arts have
expanded within criminal justice systems across various jurisdictions in the
western world and beyond. The expressed aim of such programmes has in-
creasingly been to promote desistance from crime. Research that is meant
to evaluate the effectiveness of arts-based interventions has undergone
growth as well. Yet the growth in evaluation research has largely followed,
rather than pre-dated, the expansion of programming as such. It appears,
therefore, that neither the scale nor the precise scope and mechanics of
arts-based initiatives to facilitate desistance from crime have been deter-
mined by findings from evaluation research, despite political and criminal
justice authorities’ proclaimed allegiance to evidence-based policy making
and practice. Although it would be misleading to conclude from this that
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2015 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol55 No 1–2. May 2016
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 25–41
arts programmes necessarily fail to promote desistance from crime, ques-
tions concerning their actual effectiveness are left open. The aim of this
article is to explore two key issues in this regard: how, and the degree to
which, desistance from crime can be facilitated through practitioner-run
programmes that are based on the arts, the latter spanning the visual,
design, performing, media, musical, and literary genres.
There is growing appreciation in pertinent scholarship that arts-based
programmes are unlikely to lead to desistance by themselves, and that their
respective contributions to desistance take indirect forms (see, for example,
Hughes 2005; Miles and Clarke 2006; Cheliotis 2010; Cox and Gelsthorpe
2012). These indirect contributions are partly captured by the concept
of ‘secondary desistance’, which refers to changes in self-perception that
function to challenge and disrupt prior offending behaviour, itself termed
‘primary desistance’ (see, further, Maruna and Farrall 2004). The concept
of ‘secondary desistance’, however,can be extended to incorporate an array
of other ways in which arts-based programmes may indirectly contribute
to desistance from crime, from motivating participants to take up basic
literacy education that they may lack, to equipping them with vocational
skills, to helping them improve their social skills and make amends with
their families and communities (see, for example, McNeill et al. 2011).
‘Secondary desistance’, in other words, may be said to involve any ‘soft’
conditions whose emergence may, in turn, assist in the production of the
‘hard’ outcome of abstinence from crime.1
The main goal of this article is to offer a critical review of the empirical
research literature on the ‘secondary’ or ‘soft’ contributions that arts-based
programmes may make to the process of desistance from crime. Albeit
not fully exhaustive,2the review reveals a substantial amount of hitherto
missed evidence. We begin by focusing on evaluations of arts-based pro-
grammes run by practitioners inside prisons, and their effects in terms of
three sets of developments that, according to previous literature reviews
on this topic (for example, Hughes 2005; Johnson 2008; Djurichkovich
2011), are thought to advance ‘primary desistance’: psychological and at-
titudinal changes; increased learning capacity and motivations; and social
skills building. Our review then proceeds to address the effects of arts-
based prison programmes after participants’ release into the community;
a theme that has received very limited research attention to date, and even
less attention in extant literature reviews. In the next section of the arti-
cle, we briefly discuss, for illustrative purposes, our own evaluation of an
arts-based programme that is aimed at prolonging and enhancing ‘sec-
ondary desistance’ through providing ex-prisoners with opportunities to
continue engaging with the arts after release. We conclude with a few short
remarks as to the lessons that can be drawn from this article for the design
of arts-based programmes in the field of criminal justice.
Psychological and Attitudinal Changes
It has been suggested that participation in artistic projects in general,
and the process of creating artistic products in particular, can serve a
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