Gender, Desistance and Affected Others: A Case Study Exploration of the Pains of Desistance Emotional Work

• In Event: Reintegration & Desistance

Abstract

Desistance research promotes intimate relationships as key without sufficient awareness of the associated gendered expectations of support required. Desistance Emotional Work (DEW) is a novel framework which helps to address this oversight by identifying the practical, emotional and financial impacts on women of supporting a partner to desist. This paper expands DEW by presenting a novel, feminist co-authored case study, exploring a woman’s experience of supporting her partner’s desistance. Findings reveal challenges such as time, financial, and emotional investments, and long-lasting effects of the criminal justice system on wellbeing for women proximate to desistance. Recommendations emphasise the need for holistic, trauma-informed and gender-sensitive support for women aiding desisters, to enhance their agency and reduce desistance lapse risks.

Authors

• Lauren Hall, University of Nottingham

• Lyndsey Harris, University of Lincoln