Poster #178 - Redemption Scripts, Storytelling & New Media

• In Event: ASC Poster Session II

Abstract

This study examines the use of redemption scripts in storytelling among formerly incarcerated people in new media. Redemption scripts have been shown to have lasting effects on individual identity transformation as well as destigmatization toward the collective of formerly incarcerated people more generally (Maruna, 2000; Flores, 2018). Formerly incarcerated activists remake their survival through the degradation of prison and histories of criminal behavior into a story of redemption and destigmatization. When the “signaling” of successes become publicly recognized, the negative credential of the criminal record can transform into a socio-political asset. Through analysis of storytelling on podcasts and YouTube programs, we find key themes in the personal narratives of formerly incarcerated people and demonstrate the importance of new forms of media in social movements around prisons and criminal law.

Authors

• Justin M. Smith, Western Kentucky University

• Peyton Dover, Western Kentucky University