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Politically, Post Structuralism Helps Us to Uncover Essentialist Propositions

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Politically, Post Structuralism Helps Us to Uncover Essentialist Propositions View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Flinders Academic Commons The Revolving Door of Penal Institutions – A Narration of Lived Experience Alison Thompson† Remand to prison whilst awaiting trial can be seen as a short yet indeterminate prison sentence without the judicial sanction of criminal responsibility. Given the increasing reliance on remand as a targeted strategy for crime control it would seem pertinent to consider, not just the statistics of how such a policy plays itself out at the present time, but also to take into account the lived experience of those incarcerated thereby providing a more informed understanding of the long term efficacy of such a strategy. It is not the intention of this paper to make specific policy recommendations, but only to suggest an alternative method for understanding policy implications. This paper uses an ethnographic approach to unstructured interviews with seven people who have extensive prison experience and highlights the impact remand has had, not just on themselves, but on their families as well. Introduction Foucault’s work makes the practice of social research challenging but by no means ineffectual. That power has a capillary nature in modern times means there are as many multiple points of resistance as there are multiple points of its exercise and effect (Foucault 1979). The ethnographer, no longer a neutral or even benevolent holder of the key to reality, is ‘a social actor whose conduct embodies a moral relation to the social world’ where how we conceive that world is mediated constantly by our experience of the configurations of power/knowledge (Turner 1989, p.19). Thus, inquiries into the social fabric offer a position of resistance against an oppressing social world. Using this approach research should problematise all that is taken for granted and assumed, preparing the way for those experiencing subjection to take heed of their situation and resist that power that most significantly affects them (Foucault and Deleuze 1973). In this way propositions of new models and theories that promise truth serve all but those under study, and so research should resist incessant classification and categorisation, since it is through these things - punishment, cure, rehabilitation, or recuperation - that control over individuals and populations is exerted (Silverman 1985; Turner 1989). † Sociology Dept, Flinders University (2007/8) 10 Flinders Journal of Law Reform 591 The most popular methods for depicting an actor’s experience are participant observation, unstructured interviews and life histories, where the researcher attempts to engage the actor’s world, richly detailing their perspective, in a way that social surveys and questionnaires cannot. The material for this research was collected in 1998 as part of an honors thesis in Sociology at Flinders University. The people who have contributed to this work are not representative of the prison population but they have had many years of experience in a prison environment. As career criminals, their attitude toward ‘doing time’ differs from that of some prisoners since their vast social network, high status and financial or drug connections mean they do their time ‘easier’ than most. The interview and participant observation data retain their relevance as an illustration of how participatory action research can provide a rich source of experience of an institution where the subjects most pertinently involved go largely unheard. With the use of remand as a custodial and crime control strategy, it is essential to explore the effects of such an experience. The remand of certain individuals appears an appropriate strategy for reducing immediate criminal behaviour as well as guaranteeing a court appearance. However, this indeterminate prison sentence may have significant long term effects that are not currently factored into the decision to remand ‘high risk’ suspects. In 2004, 43.5 per cent of the prison population in South Australia was on remand (Sarre, King and Bamford 2006). Only 30 per cent of those on remand went on to serve additional time in prison. Both the proportion of the prison population on remand and the post trial sentencing of individuals vary across the states and territories, with a national rate of 20.5 per cent in 2004 (Sarre, King and Bamford 2006). On average, those incarcerated on remand are twice as likely to die while in custody compared with the rest of the prison population. Suicide represents the most extreme response to the prison experience. Other negative consequences include the use of addictive drugs (often establishing debts that require payment after release), worsened mental health, violent behaviour, the extension of criminal networks and sexual assault. In terms of effective rehabilitation, Halsey (2006) explores the many and varied difficulties encountered by juveniles on conditional release through personal narratives. Establishing the gravity of the problem, he points to a Department of Correctional Services 2003 Report that 77 per cent of prisoners in South Australia have had previous experience with the juvenile justice system (Halsey 2006). Thompson, A (2007/8) 10 Flinders Journal of Law Reform 592 Whilst there is ample quantitative evidence of repeat offending amongst both juveniles and adults, there has been far less research focusing on the experience of detention and subsequent release (Halsey 2006). Halsey provides some insight into why this may be the case, going beyond professional suspicion about the motives, honesty and reliability of law breakers, to consider ‘what to do’ with narratives that fall outside of the researcher’s expectations: ‘In short, juveniles may have their own theories of offending and of the administration of justice but these may prove to be somewhat removed from more measured expectations about what it is strategically best to say or do about such matters. None the less, it remains critical to know something of the stories and biographies “behind” the statistics – no matter the (political) risks associated with their emergence.’ (Halsey 2006, p.148). The idea is not to silence what does not fit the researcher’s expectations but to illustrate the sheer diversity of experiences that mitigate the individual’s opportunity and intent to desist criminal behavior. There has been research into the reasons why the rate of remand has increased, leading to suggested areas for further research and associated policy implications (Sarre, King and Bamford 2006). I am suggesting that while this research is important, participatory action research on individuals who have served time in remand will provide a clearer understanding of the impact such a practice has had on individuals. From this information we can better judge the benefits of reduced crime for a small number of individuals over a short period of time compared with the brutalising effects of the prison experience on both remand and sentenced prisoners. In the following pages I will briefly describe two studies that focus on the narratives of criminal/prison experience, illustrating some of the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research. I will then describe the methodology used to generate the data described thereafter. Ethnography and the criminal – a brief literature review In 1971, in response to the perceived need for a more diverse range of sentencing options, periodic detention was introduced to the New South Wales penal policy. It was followed, in 1979, by the implementation of Community Service Orders and an expansion of periodic detention eligibility criteria and, in 1981, by an increase in the number of detention centres for that purpose (Weatherburn 1991). Such measures, Thompson, A (2007/8) 10 Flinders Journal of Law Reform 593 aimed at reducing the rate of imprisonment, have been statistically ineffectual; ‘Whatever their stated object, non-custodial sanctions in practice seem to end up being used not as alternatives to custody but as alternatives to sanctions such as fines’ (Weatherburn 1991, p. 64). Weatherburn further argued, ‘within a given jurisdiction rising rates of imprisonment might be bound together with rising rates of community service orders, not because the orders are failing to divert people from jail but because, despite the diversion those who do go to jail are going there for longer periods’ (1991, p. 65). In order to understand why the judiciary has not applied non-custodial penalties as an alternative to prison sentencing, Weatherburn highlights the ‘tendency among judicial officers to move repeat offenders up the sanctioning hierarchy’ combined with ‘a big gap between the perceived severity of custodial versus non-custodial penalties’ (1991, p. 68.) Once an individual has been sentenced to prison on a prior charge, ‘there is a considerable reluctance to impose a less severe penalty for a repetition of the same general kind of offense’ (Weatherburn 1991, p. 68). When a prisoner is on remand and serving time awaiting trial, they are already more likely to receive a prison sentence than someone on a bail bond who remains outside of the penal system. Problems with justice systems worldwide vary by degree of severity but the issues remain fairly consistent. Using a sample of persistent property offenders, Shover and Honaker (1995) conducted an ethnographic inquiry into criminal decision making. They felt that an improved understanding of criminal behaviour is accessed through considering how criminal activities are shaped and
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