Dr Grace Low

Through narrative interviews with 15 women with histories of imprisonment in Aotearoa New Zealand, this article explores the role of housing and ‘home’ in women’s desistance. The article argues that safety and control are key psycho-social benefits of ‘home’ that support women’s ontological security. The women’s ‘homes’ – as sites of safety and control – could provide a space for them to construct drug and crime free identities and ultimately ‘do’ desistance. Moreover, their ‘homes’ became a physical manifestation or ‘expression’ of their changing identities which served to motivate and further reinforce their desistance.

This study employed narrative interviews with 15 women with histories of imprisonment in Aotearoa New Zealand to explore how their familial relationships affected their desistance. The article explores the women’s relationships with their families of origin (i.e., parents, siblings, and extended family) throughout the life course, including their childhoods, and throughout their desistance journeys. The findings emphasize how women’s familial relationships are often complex and contradictory, and how women engage with these relationships in different ways throughout their desistance journeys. ​​​​​​​

There has been little theoretical development concerning the role of housing and the more subjective notion of ‘home’ in supporting desistance from crime. Through narrative interviews with 16 men with histories of imprisonment in Aotearoa New Zealand, this article explores key psycho-social benefits of home that support men to desist from crime. The article expands knowledge on the role of place and space in desistance by emphasising that to fully engage with the desistance process, those leaving prison need more than a roof over their heads; they need a home with psycho-social benefits that enhance their sense of wellbeing and ontological security. It is argued that a home provides a crucial setting for those leaving prison to ‘do’ desistance, and it is imperative that reintegration policy and practice recognise the psycho-social benefits of home. 

Desistance and re-entry literature has traditionally explored particular types of women’s relationships and social roles (such as maternal identities and familial relationships), while neglecting the potential for employment and work-related roles to support change. Through interviews with 15 (predominantly Indigenous) women with histories of imprisonment in New Zealand, this article contributes to feminist literature on women’s desistance by exploring the role of employment in their change. The article explores how women (particularly Indigenous women) face significant barriers to employment, based on multiple sites of inequality. It also explores how employment (and employers) can support women’s identity and relational desistance. It is argued that policy and practice should recognise and attempt to leverage the beneficial effects of employment on women’s desistance.

Keywords: women’s desistance; employment and desistance; relational desistance

This article is derived from the first New Zealand-based study to examine in detail the potential role of motherhood in women’s desistance. Narrative interviews were carried out with 13 mothers, predominantly Māori,1 with histories of incarceration. For one woman, becoming a mother for the first time was a clear turning point in her desistance. For most of the women, motherhood did not function as an initial turning point but was instrumental in facilitating desistance later in life. The article illuminates some of the socio-structural factors which can limit the potential for motherhood to positively influence the desistance process. It also examines the internal mechanisms by which motherhood inspired or cemented the women’s later desistance with a specific focus on the change-driving effects of critical self-reflection. Finally, this article suggests that, for mothers, the journey toward tertiary (relational) desistance requires their children to accept, or at least recognize, their changed identities.