‘Without the Right Support Network I'd Probably Be Either Dead or in the Prison System’: The Role of Support in Helping Offenders on their Journey to Desistance
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12355 |
The Howard Journal Vol59 No 2. June 2020 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12355
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 174–193
‘Without the Right Support Network I’d
Probably Be Either Dead or in the
Prison System’: The Role of Support in
Helping Offenders on their Journey
to Desistance
ELAINE BATTY
Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University
Abstract: Reforms designed to enhance the delivery of flexible and holistic support to
offenders were introduced in 2013, with a clear focus on addressing‘broader life manage-
ment issues’ to enable behaviour change. Data are drawn fromtotal of 117 semi-structured
interviews undertaken with 57 offenders as part of the WelfareConditionality: Sanctions
support and behaviour change project. The article specifically highlights the significance
of long-term support in successfully helping offenders to change their behaviour. It empha-
sises the importance of long-term engagement, together with strengths-based approaches
in helping offenders to progress personal development and create a new prosocial identity
whereby they can become invested in society.
Keywords: behaviour change; desistance; offender; relationships; support
Shifts in the rehabilitation of offenders have been permeating UK pol-
icy over the last decade. Recent thinking suggests enabling offenders to
see themselves as different people, with potential and abilities (Buck 2018;
McNeill et al. 2012; Ward and Maruna 2007), rather than associating them-
selves with a negative label. TransformingRehabilitation: A Strategy for Reform
(Ministry of Justice 2013) recognises that offenders face ‘broad life man-
agement issues’ (p.6) requiring personalised holistic support. Despite statu-
tory services providing support, there is evidence to suggest that offenders
view statutory services such as the Work Programme and benefit services,
as a hindrance to their transformation rather than assisting it (Batty and
Fletcher 2018).
Policy agenda suggesting innovation and asset- or strengths-based
approaches is set within a wider context of increased conditional welfare
benefits reform with the expectation of rational behaviour to avoid
financial penalty. Assumed policy rationality is often unmanageable for
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2020 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol59 No 2. June 2020
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 174–193
offenders and they are more likely to fail these rational requirements
and face sanctions due to their complex circumstances and vulnerabilities
(Fletcher 2014). If we take Brown’s (2014) description of vulnerability,sug-
gesting weakness, a lack of rationality, limited agency or capacity, we can
see that offenders often display a number of these characteristics. Limited
agency in particular, reduces the ability of offenders to help themselves
and bounds their capacity to conform to societal norms (Brown 2014).
Given offenders’ vulnerabilities and precarious circumstances, support
via homeless organisations, hostels, and voluntary sector services, provides
encouragement and guidance, tailored to offenders’ unique experiences
and challenges, as well as support with crisis management, helping of-
fenders towards a degree of stabilisation. The creation of a new prosocial
identity by capitalising on offenders’ strengths and assets rather than fo-
cusing on negative labelling can be assisted and nurtured through support
mechanisms (Buck 2018; Healy 2014; Maruna 2001). For the purposes of
this article, support organisations are defined as organisations providing
assistance to clients attending on a voluntary basis and without financial
penalties associated with adhering to welfare benefit conditions.
Research findings have suggested the notion of desisting from crime
and creating a prosocial identity as a journey and not an event (Maguire
and Raynor 2006; McNeill and Weaver 2010), but there is little empirical
evidence capturing the nuanced micro changes experienced by offenders
on their journey towards this transformation. Using longitudinal empir-
ical evidence, this article explores the experiences of offenders accessing
support and highlights the importance of long-term engagement in build-
ing positive well-being to help bring about change. The article also adds
weight to the existing theories of identity transformation (Healy 2014;
Maruna 2001) and suggests that creating a ‘new self’ is not just a matter of
an individual’s willingness to change but rather, the provision of support,
and, more importantly, opportunity. This mixture of elements is impor-
tant given the increasing punitive welfare benefit regime within which
offenders are living. Analysis of the ‘journeys’ taken by offenders in this
study suggest that while the desire to change may be overwhelming within
an individual’s psyche, without the tools to progress this wish, offenders
often struggle to disengage from criminal behaviour, remain vulnerable,
and continue to be negatively labelled, disengaged from positive support
networks and marginalised in contemporary society.
This article focuses on the role of long-term support in helping offenders
to work towards desistance and change their behaviour. It highlights the
precariousness of offender journeys, their complex circumstances and the
often destabilising effects of welfare conditionality.
The article begins by looking at the evolution of desistance within the
existing literature to explain notions of transformation. It then outlines the
welfare conditionality policy context followed by the methodology used in
the research. Exploring the lived realities of offenders who are engaging
with support organisations provides the focus of the findings section. The
article concludes with a discussion outlining the importance of support in
helping offenders on their journey to behaviour change.
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2020 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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