BREAKING FREEGangs and Desistance

Dr Mart in Glynn Honorary Research Fellow – The University of Wolverhampton

Winston Churchil l Fel low (2010)

Prevention/Early InterventionProvide support to local areasPathways outPunishment and EnforcementPartnership working

Ending gang and youth violence (2011)

MarginalisationCriminality

Gang affiliationPrison

Social Disorganisation

Criminal Justice Pipeline

Exploding the myth

Persistence

Resistance

Desistance

Gang Member Choices

•Father absence•Poor Self concept•Code of the streets•Effects of incarceration•Community Disconnect•Silences•Limited Social Capital

Joining a gang (Glynn, 2014)

1.Outside world is chaotic and stressful.

2. Impulsive actions derails desistance trajectory.

3.Family relationships are often weakened.

4.Gang members can have unmet health, education, employment, and housing needs.

5.Gang Members face retribution post-release.

6.Gang Members face barriers related to civic participation.

Gang Member Worldview (Glynn, 2014)

.Social determinants of health are the condit ions in which people are born, grow, l ive, work and age, shaped by the distr ibution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.

Gang as Social Determinant of Health

New Moons Model (Glynn, 2014)

Crime Free Life

Crime Free Life

Termination point of offending

Cessation of criminal activity

Lack of continued involvement & investment in criminal activity

Desistance - Definition

Types of Desistance

Primary In and out of Criminality

Secondary Abandon crime for good

Tertiary One’s sense of belonging to family and community.

‘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).

Supporting Desistance

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

Desistance Paradigm – (McNeil, 2010)

Breaking Free (Glynn, 2014)