Speakers
Workshop Session
Violent offenders are often depicted as chaotic, whereas the chaos these individuals encounter in criminal justice institutions is not commonly reported. However, we found in qualitative offender-based research on diversion and other aspects of the criminal justice system that chaos can be co-constituted. We believe it is important to understand this phenomenon to create effective, humane criminal justice programs that can support desistance. Our findings are drawn from qualitative research on ReINVEST a pharmacotherapy Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) at UNSW, Sydney, Australia. Using Grounded Theory Analysis to analyse the 32 in-depth interviews conducted, and Law (2004) and Lock & Nguyen’s (2010) innovative theories of “mess” and “entanglement” respectively, we discovered that the co-constitution of chaos can result from: the complexity and entangling of individuals and institutions, conflicting cultures and practices, dysfunction in criminal justice institutions, and issues with communication and relationality between individuals and institutions. Linking these aspects of chaos with participants reports of chaos and dysfunction in their lives and criminal justice institutions, we emphasise the need to acknowledge and encourage healthy relationality and strong emotional intelligence and labour between criminal justice professionals and criminal justice involved individuals. We advocate for policy and practice that directs these individuals away from the criminal justice system into treatment and rehabilitation. It is vital that those creating such policy and practice understand the importance of emotional intelligence and healthy communication, the entangling of individuals, systems, and processes, and the co-constitution of chaos.