Fergus McNeill Fergus.McNeill@glasgow.ac.uk Twitter: @fergus_mcneill Seeking Recognition? Desistance, Rehabilitation and Restorative Justice Fergus McNeill Fergus.McNeill@glasgow.ac.uk Twitter: @fergus_mcneill

Desistance A process of personal, human development That takes place in and is shaped by its social and cultural contexts; hence also a social transition That involves movement away from offending (volume, frequency, severity) and towards…?

Secondary/Substantive Three aspects Behaviour Primary/Formal Identity Secondary/Substantive Belonging Tertiary/Secure

How we are Who we are connected to How we see ourselves (and how we are seen)

Raynor and Robinson (2009) ‘the action of restoring something to a previous (proper) condition or status’ (OED) An action That restores To a desirable state Implies… [judgement against some normalising standard] [third party intervention]

Two criminological definitions ‘…taking away the desire to offend, is the aim of reformist or rehabilitative punishment. The objective of reform or rehabilitation is to reintegrate the offender into society after a period of punishment, and to design the content of the punishment so as to achieve this’ (Hudson, 2003: 26). I will initially assume a benign definition of rehabilitation: the return of a lawbreaker, ex-prisoner or wrongdoer to civil society (i.e. citizenship) with an enhanced capacity to lead a law-abiding life in future. (Carlen, 2013) Outcomes and mechanisms…

The pains of re/habilitation ‘Reentry organizations, while not acknowledging this, engage in a logic in which former prisoners ‘prove’ their submission to a program of personal transformation by (1) completing programs designed to broker within them an ethic of transformation; and (2) sharing in treatment groups the kinds of struggles on which they are working. Thus, a changed life is one of constant (re) evaluation, (re) discovery, and above all consistent progress toward the moving target of personal transformation. Unwillingness to transform is disciplined by service providers who facilitate reentry programs, and by former prisoners participating in these groups themselves’ (Miller, 2014: 325). The compulsory internalisation of misrecognition?

Blankface The clock spins, zero hour begins This is the end, the end again Here sits Blankface and she spins my tale I’ve stopped listening now I know that I’ll fail   Tick by tick and line by line Thread by thread now you weave mine A web of shadows, a silk spun tomb A windowless room, windowless room Sliding doors open and they welcome me in This is the place, the place we pay for sin These four seasons they reflect in glass Trapped in a jar here where the time will not pass One day ending, a new day begins Tick says ‘he’ll do it’, again and again You see what you want but I know it’s not real Anyone out there who can feel what I feel?

Personal Reintegration Social Reintegration Judicial Reintegration Moral (and Political) Reintegration Desistance

Personal re/integration The re/development of the self ‘Human capital’ or human potential Motivation Skills Identity and values: Personal development through philosophical enquiry? (Szifris, 2016) A responsibility of all citizens?

Judicial re/integration The ‘requalification of the juridical subject’ (Beccaria) Formal de-labelling Status elevation/restoration A responsibility of the punishing state, when punishment is complete? Formal recognition

Social Re/integration The recognition of a new or restored social identity The elevation or restoration of social status The re-development of social capital, connection, resources A responsibility of citizens and civil society (with the support of the punishing state) Social recognition

Moral (and political) re/integration Provision of redress (not to the state but…) To the victim To the community To the offender? The relational restoration of the reciprocal bonds of citizen, civil society and state Restorative practices and (multilateral) reintegrative shaming Moral (and political) recognition

Redress for Breaches of Reciprocities Proportionality and Parsimony Reparation (Voluntary contributions) Retribution (Compulsory losses) Rehabilitation (as process) Re/integration (as outcome: Restoration of Reciprocities )

Three party search for recognition Restorative Justice Victim Three party search for recognition Community Offender

Four party search for recognition Restorative Justice Victim State Four party search for recognition Civil Society Offender

Problems and possibilities Rehabilitation and reintegration are relational Between the people involved Between citizen, civil society and state Processes of mutual recognition Structure and culture shape the relational possibilities… and the prospects of misrecognition Dialogue (and collective) action can reform cultures and structures… Maybe. At least it’s worth trying. RJ is the best developed practice of dialogue we have