Search

The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and criminality has been amply explored in criminology and the social sciences. A plethora of scholarly theories has focused on the impact of abandonment by one's parents, among other events, in the development of criminal careers. Originating in the Global North, where it has been much promoted, this hypothesis has turned into a doxa overriding the need to account for sociocultural contexts. Drawing upon narrative criminology, this paper analyses how the life stories of people in prison change with their institutional trajectories, being shaped by official penal discourses. Based on the analysis of 30 life stories with inmates in Argentinean prisons, this paper argues that prison narratives guide explanations of crime towards family dynamics and, consequently, decontextualize life histories. Nonetheless, interviewees contested mainstream expert theories - while skillfully using them to navigate the system - as a response to the attempted institutional alienation of their biographies. In contesting dominant theories, participants are resisting not just local prison culture but also transnational colonial networks of knowledge production. Revisiting dominant frameworks that mechanically take for granted the impact of childhood experiences constitutes a path of inquiry that contributes to an understanding of prison narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Sociología is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Argentina, studies about police and judicial bureaucracies have shown that the use of violence by penitentiary agents constitutes a regular phenomenon, inscribed in the institutional contexts. Drawing upon social studies of professions and violence, the objective of this paper is to work narratives of male penitentiary agents of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service, in order to explore the legitimation processes of violent practices and its informal mechanisms. Open and semi-structured interviews were conducted with penitentiary agents, and observations in penitentiaries were carried out (2016-2019). We identified several ritualized practices in the early stages of their labor trajectories. Notably, we describe four practices that were narrated as indexes: "welcomes", "earning one's place", "passages", and "punishments". We argue that the logic of "verdugueo" can be seen as the general framing for the learning of informal rules and violent practices in prison agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand why people agree to participate in qualitative research. While some studies have emphasized the motivation to participate in research, the nuances and underlying stories that favor participation have not yet been examined. Using data from repeated biographical open-ended interviews with men and women convicted of violent crimes in Argentina and Chile, we distinguish between stories emphasizing the interviews as a space or opportunity for a) healing and selfimprovement, b) venting emotions, c) presenting alternative stories, and d) creating individual or systemic change. We also discuss stories that indicate a different direction, namely e) skepticism regarding research participation. The stories are discussed in view of self-presentations, the prison context, and issues of consent. Our study underscores the importance of critically exploring widespread narratives about the benefits of qualitative interviews. Understanding the stories that encourage or discourage participation in research allows for a more nuanced comprehension of the recruitment processes, consent to participate, and the qualitative interview dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the relevance given to violent deaths and imprisonment by male homicide perpetrators in their biographical reconstructions. Drawing on narrative criminology, this study examines the offenders' emic terms, rationalities, and stories. The analysis is based on seventy-three purposefully selected narrative-biographical interviews and field observations in prisons and homes of former convicts (2016-2020) in Metropolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina. The corpus was analyzed following an inductive thematic coding strategy using ATLAS.ti. Three central narratives about homicide and incarceration emerged: "opportunity," "rock bottom," and "disruptive." For most, homicide was described as a biographical opportunity to rethink their lives, pursue new pathways, and "stabilize" a previously uncontrolled lifestyle. However, homicides perpetrated by respondents with higher socioeconomic status were disruptive events. Participants used stoic rationality--the positive appraisal of painful experiences--to structure their sense-making and stories of violence. This rationality permeated perpetrators' presentations of themselves, their turning points and lived experiences, and the violence performed and suffered. This paper grapples with the widespread assumption that homicide is a radical change in the lives of offenders and questions the universal meaning of violent death. Performing violence is not only neutralized but is also seen as an expected and inaugural event in life stories, dependent on the worldviews of the social actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Espanola de Investigacion Criminologica is the property of Revista Espanola de Investigacion Criminologica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad: Revista Latinoamericana is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política is the property of Instituto de Ciencia Politica (Universidad de la Republica de Uruguay) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)