Criminal Behaviour in Context: Space, Place and Desistance from Crime

by Flynn; Nick

• ISBN13: 9780415627627
• ISBN10: 0415627621
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2012-05-16
• Publisher: Willan

Summary

This book examines the extent to which criminal desistance 'the change process involved in the ending of criminal behaviour' is affected by personal and social circumstances which are place specific. Grounded in criminological spatial analysis, as well as more general social scientific investigations of the role of space and place in contemporary social, economic and cultural life, it examines why large numbers of prisoners in the United States and the United Kingdom appear to be drawn from and after release return to certain urban neighbourhoods. In doing so Criminal Behaviour in Contextassesses the effect of this unique life course experience on the pathways and choices open to ex-prisoners who attempt to give up crime. Including new data on the geographical distribution of offenders, interviews with serving prisoners, and drawing on theories about social context, identity and subjectivity, it discusses the implications of the evidence and arguments presented for prisoner reintegration policy and practice.

Author Biography

Having spent most of his professional life working in and around offender reintegration, in 2007 Nick Flynn became Senior Lecturer in Applied Criminology at De Montfort University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xi
Participant list	p. xiii
Glossary of terms and phrases	p. xvii
Introduction: A common frame of spatial reference	p. 1
Local life in the global economy	p. 5
Space, place and criminality	p. 8
The spatial dimensions of criminal desistance	p. 10
The structure of the book	p. 11
Criminal desistance in context	p. 15
Introduction	p. 15
From margins to mainstream	p. 16
Untangling personal and social factors	p. 19
The role of place and community	p. 23
Assessing local circumstances	p. 27
From A to B and back again: the revolving door between place of residence and imprisonment	p. 32
Introduction	p. 32
'We know who you are and we know where you live'	p. 32
Offender residence in the contemporary city: the case of Greater London	p. 40
Cosmopolitan boundaries and neighbourhood relations	p. 45
Place, the community and the offender	p. 50
Introduction	p. 50
Free will versus determinism: explaining divergent theories of crime and place	p. 51
The concept of community	p. 54
Place, rationality, behaviour	p. 56
Social disorganisation	p. 60
Institutional malfunction	p. 64
Structural inequality and racial segregation	p. 65
Culture and dependency	p. 71
Neither one thing nor the other: the criminal and the community	p. 74
Area-based social rehabilitation	p. 76
Ordering devices and prevention techniques	p. 80
Morals and responsibilities	p. 82
Fortress cities and warehouse prisons	p. 84
Conclusion	p. 86
The hidden limitations and possibilities of everyday life	p. 88
Introduction	p. 88
Social practice	p. 89
Cultural dispositions	p. 92
Consumption	p. 94
Boredom and desire	p. 97
Everyday life in prison	p. 99
Reform and rehabilitation	p. 104
Social work	p. 106
Social capital	p. 109
'On the up': pre-prison experiences	p. 114
Introduction	p. 114
The family home	p. 115
Neighbourhood	p. 123
'More like high jinks than crime'	p. 127
The importance of being violent	p. 132
'What you need'	p. 136
Leaving home	p. 142
'On the in': the impact of imprisonment	p. 149
Introduction	p. 149
First-timers	p. 150
'Pals from road were there'	p. 154
Gangs and landings	p. 157
Places of 'de-communication'	p. 160
Drugs and crime	p. 168
Prison as home	p. 170
'A law-abiding and useful life'	p. 174
'On the outÆ: after-prison experiences	p. 180
Introduction	p. 180
Returning home	p. 180
Somewhere to live	p. 187
On the corner	p. 189
Friends (dis)reunited	p. 193
'Placelessness'	p. 196
'Social services'	p. 200
Finding a job	p. 203
Implications	p. 209
Introduction	p. 209
Prisoner reintegration: recent policy and practice	p. 211
Relationships	p. 214
Area-based initiatives and social exclusion	p. 216
Partnership working and information sharing	p. 219
Constraints and capabilities	p. 225
Appendix: A note on the methodology	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 237
Index	p. 273
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