1. Gangs and Desistance (Glynn, 2014)
BREAKING FREE
Gangs and Desistance (Glynn, 2014)
Facilitator: Jason Sylvester Session 5

2. Joining a gang (Glynn, 2014) Father absence Poor Self concept
Code of the streets
Effects of incarceration
Community Disconnect
Silences
Limited Social Capital

3. Gang Member Worldview (Glynn, 2014)
Outside world is chaotic and stressful.
Impulsive actions derails desistance trajectory.
Family relationships are often weakened.
Gang members can have unmet health, education, employment, and housing needs.
Gang Members face retribution post-release.
Gang Members face barriers related to civic participation.
Consider the original expectation from our correctional facilities.
Punishment
Structure
Treatment
Rehabilitation
Each community should now consider what it takes to prepare an ex-offender to transition and live successfully in the community.

4. Gang as Social Determinant of Health.
Social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.

5. New Moons Model (Glynn, 2014)
Desistance
Desistance Readiness
Cycle of Change
Build Social Capital
Crime Free Life
Crime Free Life

6. In your groups discuss how gang members can develop:
Desistence Readiness
Cycle of Change
Social capital

7. Desistance - Definition
Termination point of offending Cessation of criminal activity Lack of continued involvement & investment in criminal activity

8. Types of Desistance Primary In and out of Criminality Secondary
Abandon crime for good
Tertiary
One’s sense of belonging
to family and community.

9. Supporting Desistance
‘Gang Work’ tends to focus on offenders’ risk and needs, but they also have strengths and resources that they can use to overcome obstacles to desistance (Maruna and LeBel 2003). Since desistance is about discovering agency, interventions need to encourage and respect self- determination; this means working with offenders not on them (McCulloch 2005; McNeill 2006).

10. How can organisations work with gang members rather than on them?

11. The desistance paradigm (forefronts the change process)
Desistance Paradigm – (McNeil, 2010)
The desistance paradigm
(forefronts the change process)
Help in navigation towards desistance to reduce harm and make good to offenders, victims and communities
Explicit dialogue and negotiation assessing risks, needs and strengths and resources; and exploring opportunities to make good
Collaboratively defined tasks which tackle risks and needs and target obstacles to desistance by developing the offender’s human and social capital

12. Family and Community Breaking Free (Glynn, 2014) BUILD SOCIAL CAPITAL
CYCLE OF CHANGE
Motivational Interviewing
GENERATIVITY
Acquiring new meaning/purpose
Fear/ Anxiety management
RITE OF PASSAGE
produces positive masculine challenge.

13. Working with me not on me to create opportunities for change