The negative reactions from family, friends and neighbours experienced by partners of prisoners

• In Event: Prisoners' Families: International Perspectives

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that partners of prisoners often receive negative reactions about the crime their husband or boyfriend committed and the prison sentence that was imposed. This is usually explained by a stigma that partners of prisoners experience through their relationship with a criminal. Few studies have determined the extent of negative reactions partners of prisoners encounter. Even less is known about the determinants of negative reactions.
This paper addresses research questions on 1) the extent to which partners of prisoners experience negative reactions - from their own family, their family in-law, friends and neighbours – both during and after detention - and 2) if characteristics of the crime, the detention, the partner relationship and the partners’ societal marginalisation (welfare, drug use) are related to the experienced negative reactions. Partners of serious offenders may, for example, encounter more negative reactions than the partners of those imprisoned for petty crime.
The study used two waves of the Prison Project, a longitudinal study on the effects of imprisonment in the Netherlands (N=119). Results showed that partners of prisoners encounter more negative reactions if they cohabit or have children, if they are involved in criminal activities themselves, or if they use governmental support.

Authors

• Susanne van 't Hoff-de Goede, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

• Rachel Condry, University of Oxford

• A.G. (Tanja) van der Lippe, Utrecht University

• Joni Reef, Leiden University

• Paul Nieuwbeerta, Leiden University

• Anja Dirkzwager, NSCR