Återfall i kriminalitet är ett ständigt problem inom kriminologin och rättssystemet, därav kan resultera i förödande konsekvenser för samhället i helhet och för individen som begått brottet. Syftet i denna studie var att finna om det fanns ett samband mellan arbete och minskning av återfall i brott. Vad den tidigare forskning har kommit fram till samt om det finns andra underliggande faktorer som är korrelerade med variabeln ¨arbete¨. Metoden som användes i denna uppsats var en systematisk litteraturstudie och innebar genom att kritiskt söka, granska och analysera resultatet av flera vetenskapliga artiklar, nå en slutsats som besvarar frågeställningarna i studien. Resultatet i studien visade att det fanns ett samband mellan arbete och minskning av återfall, men även att flera underliggande faktorer existerade. Dessa underliggande faktorer var etnicitet, ålder, utbildning samt det sociala band det befintliga urvalet hade till sin omgivning. Det är i samband med arbete faktorerna är av betydelse. Genom att ta hänsyn till dessa faktorer kan samhället arbeta mot att minska återfallsfrekvensen och underlätta en gynnsam återanpassning för tidigare kriminella.

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Background. This study investigates the ways in which former offenders tell their life stories and integrate explanations for their previous criminal activity and desistance from crime into their personal narratives. It addresses an important gap in the desistance literature by including non-offenders as a comparison group. The specific aims of this study were to explore the similarities and differences in the personal narratives of desisters and non-offenders and to investigate the presence of generativity, agency and communion themes as well as the use of redemption sequences and contamination sequences in the life stories of both groups. Methods. Respondents were identified through snowball sampling and targeted advertising (e.g., an organization that provides services to ex-offenders). Two groups were interviewed: men who had committed multiple crimes after turning 21 years old but were crime-free for the past year (desisting ex-offenders) and men who grew up in similar neighborhoods but reported no involvement in crime as adults (non-offenders). The final sample consisted of 19 desisters and 12 non-offenders; groups were matched on age and other background characteristics. Data collection included a life story interview and a set of open-ended questions about the respondent's juvenile offending and adult criminal history. Participants also completed two standardized instruments to assess generative concern and generative behavior: the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS) and the Generative Behavior Checklist (GBC). Analyses identified themes through open coding, examined the structure of life narratives, and applied pre-established coding schemes for agency, communion and generativity themes and redemption and contamination sequences. Results. Overall, the life stories of desisters and non-offenders were remarkably similar, even if they contained dramatically different content and reflected unique personal experiences. Respondents in both groups tended to craft narratives where they drew from earlier life experiences to identify reoccurring themes that helped to explain the trajectory of their lives and express deeply held beliefs about who they are as people. Desisters and non-offenders also were very similar in their use of redemption sequences and agency, communion and generativity themes. On the two generativity surveys, the desisting group reported levels of generative concern and generative behavior that were, at the very least, equivalent to average people their own age. While almost all desisting respondents reported some kind of cognitive transformation, the degree to which they saw themselves as changing and how they described that change differed depending on the type of offenses committed. Two types of desistance narratives were identified. The hustler desistance narrative was used by former drug dealers. These men believed that they were involved in drug sales primarily for economic gain and could replace this source of income with legal pursuits. They did not view their past illegal activities as inconsistent with who they were as people. In contrast, the “real me” narrative was used by respondents who had perpetrated acts of violence. They argued that they were innately good people. Conclusions. Overall, the study’s findings were consistent with previous research results that supported the “cognitive transformation and identity” view of desistance, which emphasizes behavioral change as resulting primarily from internal rather than external sources. Previous offending patterns played an influential role in how ex-offenders viewed their past criminal activity, the ways in which they decided to change their lives, and their understanding of the desistance process. Involvement in peer-based programming, mutual support groups and mentoring relationships, whether they were institutionalized, volunteer-oriented, or self-initiated, were identified as major life changing experiences by many desisting ex-offenders. These activities also played a key role in shaping personal narratives and self-concepts in important ways that helped to sustain desistance over time. / Criminal Justice

Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka faktorer som bidragit till att kvinnor avslutat den kriminella livsstilen samt hur kvinnor beskriver sin identitet efter att de tagit sig ur den kriminella livsstilen. Studien har använt ett kvalitativt förhållningssätt med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Studien bestod av sex kvinnliga informanter från KRIS-Kriminellas Revansch I Samhället, för att besvara studiens syfte. Alla informanter har haft en kriminell livsstil men nu avslutat denna. Till denna studie har en tematisk analysmetod tillämpats, där bearbetning av materialet gjordes utifrån sex olika steg.  Resultatet visade sex olika faktorer som var avgörande för att kvinnorna i studien valde att avsluta den kriminella livsstilen: Ingen gråzon, Insikt i den kriminella livsstilen, Att vara förälder, Kopplingar till samhället och andra, Partnerrelationer och Påföljder.  Studien visade att det var en process för informanterna att avsluta den kriminella livsstilen, processen började med att informanterna själva tog ett beslut om att sluta begå brott och missbruka. De flesta kvinnorna kunde exempelvis känna att fängelsestraff var en bidragande faktor för processen till en avslutad kriminalitet, men inte som ett avgörande avslut. Kvinnorna i studien beskrev sin identitet genom egna uppfattningar om sig själva såväl som hur de uppfattat att andra ser på dem. Resultatet var att alla kvinnor i studien förbättrat sin självbild efter att de avslutat sin kriminella livsstil. Två kvinnor pratade dock om att de ibland kände osäkerhet. Avslutningsvis hävdade alla informanter att det måste finnas en inre motivation och vilja för att lyckas avsluta den kriminella livsstilen. / The purpose of the study is to examine which factors that have contributed to women ending the criminal lifestyle and how women of this study describe their identity, after they have left the criminal lifestyle. The study has used a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews. The study consisted of six female informants from KRIS-Kriminella's Revansch I Samhället, to answer the purpose of the study. All the informants have had a criminal lifestyle but have now ended it.  For this study, a thematic analysis method has been applied, where the processing of the data material was made through six different steps. The results showed six different factors that were decisive for the women in the study to choose to end the criminal lifestyle: ‘’No gray area’’, Insight into the criminal lifestyle, Being a parent, Connections to society and others, Partner relationships and Sanctions. The study showed that it was a process for the informants to end the criminal lifestyle, the process began with the informants themselves making a decision to stop committing crimes and abusing. For instance, most women in the study felt that imprisonment was a contributing factor to the process of ending a crime, but not as a decisive ending.The women in the study described their identity through their own perceptions of themselves as well as how they perceived others to look at them.  The result was that all women in the study improved their self-esteem after ending their criminal lifestyle. However, two women said that they sometimes felt insecure. In the conclusion, all the informants claimed that there must be an inner motivation and will to succeed in ending the criminal lifestyle.

Syftet med studien är att studera subjektiva upplevelser av vilka faktorer som varit bidragande till ett upphörande med brottsligt beteende, samt de faktorer som enligt egna upplevelser leder till ett upprätthållande av en mer konventionell livsstil. För att studera detta har en kvalitativ metod tillämpats och semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra före detta kriminella individer genomförts. Studiens resultat visade att kärleksrelationer och föräldraskap, att sluta med alkohol- och narkotika missbruk, bryta upp från tidigare omgivning samt egen vilja är faktorer som i samspel med varandra påverkat de intervjuade att upphöra med brottsligt beteende. Rutiner, nytt socialt nätverk och stöd är faktorer som enligt intervjupersonerna möjliggjort ett upprätthållande av en mer konventionell livsstil. Studiens viktigaste slutsats är att samspel mellan yttre och inre faktorer även kallade vändpunkter, är av största vikt för att en upphörandeprocess skall vara framgångsrik. / ”It´s never too late.” - Four stories about the path out of crime. The purpose of this paper was to study the subjective experiences of factors that have contributed to desistance from criminal behavior, and the factors which, according to the interviewees own experiences lead to the maintenance of a more conventional lifestyle. The study was performed using qualitative semi-structured interviews with four ex-offenders. The results have shown that factors, such as love relationships and parenting, as well as desistance from alcohol and drug abuse and changing their environment are factors that in interaction with each other have affected the interviewed individuals desistance from criminal behavior. Routines, new social network and support are factors which, according to the interviewees made it possible to maintain a more conventional lifestyle. The study's main conclusion is that the interaction between external and internal factors so called ”turning points”, is crucial to a desistance process to be successful.

Over the past thirty years attention has turned to how people leave a criminal lifestyle and develop an adaptive identity. Within the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales there exist physical activity interventions designed to give people an opportunity to improve their health and facilitate rehabilitation. A review of the literature indicated benefits to developing further understanding of the role of identity (re)construction, embodiment and physical activity in supporting adult desistance from crime. A narrative approach was adopted to explore the embodied, lived experience of people with criminal convictions and life transformation. Approval was gained to access prisons and probation units in England and Wales. Through purposeful sampling, life history interviews were conducted with 16 adults, 13 males and 3 females, with criminal convictions to explore their experience of change. Six people were successfully desisting from a criminal lifestyle, eight were trying to desist, and two were still involved in crime. 14 semi-structured interviews were also conducted with Criminal Justice staff. A narrative analysis was undertaken to explore the personal and public stories. Firstly, exploring the whats (what does the story tell us? Lieblich et al., 1998; Riessman, 2008) and, secondly, the hows (what do the stories do? Frank, 2010). From this analysis and interpretation six aspects of transforming criminal lives were identified and explored: embodied transformation, physical activity, spirituality, age and wisdom, claiming an adaptive identity, and maintaining change. These are represented in the thesis through modified realist tales, creative non-fictions and confessional tales to illustrate their role in the process of desistance from crime. Through the analysis, a six-domain ‘web’ model is proposed as one possible way to conceptualise the active, interdependent and ongoing nature of participants’ journeys in transforming their lives. Finally, implications of the study are reflected upon in relation to theory, practice and future research.

With over 1.5 million adults incarcerated each day in the United States, the development of successful criminal rehabilitation has now become imperative (Public Safety Performance Project, 2010). Higher education has emerged as a potential ‘solution’, with many undergraduate programmes for prisoners boasting lower rates of recidivism than any other rehabilitative programming available. This doctoral research is a mixed methods investigation of Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, an undergraduate degree programme operating at a maximum-security correctional facility in the New York State. While most work in the field of prison education asks whether or not participation reduces recidivism, my research set out to discover how students engage with the processes of education – how they use the tools offered by membership in the social world of the prison college to reframe their understanding of their own experiences, what it means for their identities to be college students in the larger context of the prison, and how education changes their day-to-day lives and their plans for the future. My understanding is informed primarily by student writing data, generated through the facilitation of autobiographical writing workshops with two groups of men from the programme. Over the course of two ten-week sessions, students in these workshops constructed narratives describing their experiences in education both before and during their prison terms. These narratives define education as experiences of learning – allowing for inclusion of those lessons taught by the family unit and/or “in the street” – rather than just those activities involving school. The workshop process allowed me to build and maintain a significant degree of participant trust, as well as to ask for more clarification and detail as necessary in order to build a rich and thorough understanding of their stories and experiences. This understanding was also supported by six months’ worth of ethnographic and participant observation data, and a quantitative profile of every student Hudson Link has served during its twelve years in operation. Data analysis using a cultural-historical framework reveals that these students make sense of their lives using tools offered to them by the figured world of the prison college. Reinterpreting past experiences allows them to come to terms with their lives before prison. Identity reconstruction is achieved through guided authoring of personal change narratives, incorporation of education into the sense of self, and discoursal practices of academic English. These constructions of identity are used to reclaim the sense of agency that prison is designed to take away, which in turn influences student and graduate behaviour.

In England and Wales, life imprisonment is the ultimate sanction for the most serious crimes. The introduction of Discretionary Lifer Panels (DLPs) in 1992 was a major development in the way that lifers are managed within the penal system. This thesis explores 'life after life imprisonment' for the first cohort of discretionary lifers who were released into the community through the DLP process. The study is set in the context of a renewed interest in empirical research on the resettlement of ex-prisoners, yet little of this work has focused on life-sentenced offenders. By investigating the resettlement process of 138 discretionary lifers released on life licence between 1992 and 1997, this research contributes to empirical and theoretical understanding of rehabilitation and desistance from crime after long-term imprisonment. Part One considers the various factors that have shaped the discretionary life sentence, and sets out the research methods used. Part Two examines the role of the Probation Service in the process of resettlement. Based on empirical work across probation areas, it sheds light on the claim that contemporary probation practice is indicative of a more general authoritarian and exclusionary approach to resettlement. Part Three explores the 'disistance and persistance' process for lifers. It provides a detailed analysis of the narrative accounts of resettled lifers, and explores the reasons why they had given up crime. It also highlights the growing numbers of recalled lifers, and seeks to identify factors associated with failure on life licence. This thesis concludes by arguing that rehabilitation continues to have a prominent place within the discourse of resettlement. Overall, this thesis lends support to theories of disistance from crime that emphasise the importance of shifts in offenders' narrative identities to explain cessation from criminal behaviour, and highlights the role of a professional relationship as a powerful vehicle for change.

Denna studie behandlar fenomenen kriminalitet och identitetsskapande. Den syftar till att skapa kunskap om vägen in i kriminalitet samt utträde ur en kriminell gemenskap. Studien koncentreras till att förstå hur sociala faktorer kan påverka processen med fokus på identitetsskapande. Hur ser förändringsprocessen ut för individer som tidigare befunnit sig i utanförskap till att tillhöra en socialt accepterad gemenskap? Studien genomfördes med en fenomenologisk ansats och resultatet baseras på den empiri vi erhöll genom sju semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer. Intervjuerna har baserats på teman för att tillhandahålla samtalsstruktur och i ett led att besvara syftet. Urvalet är målstyrt och samtliga respondenter, utom en, är medlemmar i en ideell förening som arbetar stödjande för människor med en förflutet inom kriminalitet och missbruk. Resultatet visar att både in- och utträde ur en kriminell gemenskap är en komplex process och att omgivningen genomgående har en stor påverkan i processen och i möjliggörandet för en ny identitet. Sammanställningen av den insamlade empirin består av tre olika delar, vägen in i kriminalitet, livet som kriminell samt vägen ut ur kriminalitet och skapandet av en prosocial identitet. Resultatet analyseras genom meningskoncentrering och tematisk analys. / The purpose of this study is to explore criminality and identity-creation. Why does some people end up in criminality and how one desist from crime. This paper focuses on how social factors can influence the process in and out of criminality with focus on identity-creation. This study also seeks to understand the change-process; how does an individual with a criminal past move from being socially excluded to becoming a member of a socially accepted group? The study takes a phenomenological approach and the result is based on the data we received from seven semi-structured qualitative interviews. The interviews were based on different themes to structure the dialogue with a view towards answering the purpose. The sample we used are based on purposeful technique and all informants, except for one, are members of associations that work to support people with a history of crime and addiction. The results show that entering and leaving a criminal community are complex processes and also that social context has a major influence on the process and the possibility to create a new identity. The compiled data consists of three different parts: 1) the gateway to crime 2) life as a criminal and 3) desistance from crime and creating a prosocial identity. The result is analyzed by initial sentence-concentration and thematic analysis.