Desistance: A Utopian Perspective

Abstract

The written diaries of 43 adult male respondents from a prison sample that had participated in a restorative justice intervention reveal a nuanced and dynamic process of desistance via their hopes and pains of anticipated desistance at the micro, meso and macro levels. A utopian reading of the respondents’ hopes and pains of desistance is developed which reveals that their diaries express a utopian vision that is not just personal, but also inherently political, radical, collective and transformative. Their pains of desistance on the other hand, reveal a critique and condemnation of the current societal and structural apparatus. The necessity for radical and collective change is clear, if desisters and society are to reach their full potential.