Search results

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- 1: Defining Desistance -- Defining Desistance -- Desistance and the (Absence of) the 'Woman Question' -- Aims of Desisting Sisters -- Desistance Contexts -- Northshire -- Southton -- Easton -- Central Town -- Northton -- Weston -- Formal Desistance Settings -- The Women's Centres -- The Housing for Northshire Project -- Participant Profiles -- Chapter Outline -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 2: Explaining Desistance: Traditional Perspectives -- Ontogenetic Explanations -- Critiquing Maturational Theory -- Maturational Theory and Gender -- Sociogenic Explanations -- Marriage -- Employment -- Other Social Bonds -- Critiquing Social Bonds Theory -- Social Bonds Theory and Gender -- Subjective Explanations -- Hope and Self-Efficacy -- Shame, Remorse and Stigma -- Identity -- Narrative Theory and Gender -- Combining Explanations -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 3: A Case of Growing Up? A Feminist Critique of Maturational Theory -- Support for the Ontogenetic Theory -- Late-Onset Offending -- One-off Offending -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 4: 'A Good Job and the Love of a Good Woman': A Feminist Critique of Social Bonds Theory -- Adult Social Bonds -- Employment -- Contexts of Employment -- Educating Northshire -- The Paradox of Volunteering -- Employment, Education and the Justice System -- Romantic Relationships -- Holly's Story -- Supportive Relationships, Domestic Abuse and Desistance: Similar Desistance Outcomes for Vastly Different Experiences -- Relationships with Men and Offending -- Independence and Desistance -- Romantic Relationships and the Criminal Justice System (CJS) -- Becoming a Mother -- Gaining Stable Accommodation -- Communities, Friendships and Desistance -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- 5: All in the Head? A Feminist Critique of Subjective Theory -- Hope and Self-Efficacy.

1. Defining Desistance -- 2. Explaining Desistance.-3. A Case Of Growing Up? A Feminist Critique Of Maturational Theory.-4. 'A Good Job And The Love Of A Good Woman? A Feminist Critique Of Social Bonds Theory -- 5. All In The Head? A Feminist Critique Of Subjective Theory -- 6. (In)Justice Systems -- 7. Making The Invisible Visible -- 8. Conclusion

While criminological literature, criminal justice practice, and to a lesser extent, state policy have acknowledged a link between women's criminalisation and gendered violence (MoJ, 2018; Österman, 2018; Prison Reform Trust, 2017; Roberts, 2015), there has been much less acknowledgement of the role of historical and contemporaneous experiences of violence in the desistance scripts of criminalised women. Combining findings from two research projects exploring gender and desistance, this article argues that (i) criminalised women's experiences of gendered violence are such that any exploration of gender and desistance which does not acknowledge this is incomplete, (ii) coercion and control can inform women's entry into the criminal justice system, (iii) expressions of agency and resistance in abusive interpersonal relationships can also inform women's offending, yet (iv) women's experiences of desistance from crime can mask the harm they face in coercive, controlling, and violent relationships. Thus, the article argues for a reframing of desistance from crime as desistance from harm both theoretically and in practice, and considers what this might entail.

From the denial of abortion rights in Northern Ireland to sexual violence in South Asian communities, this book offers a counter narrative to the criminal justice system's failures towards women, mapping a feminist criminology for the 21st century.