Introduction

The emotional dimensions and trajectories of crime and of desistance have, at least until relatively recently, been more or less neglected in mainstream theorising. This chapter draws on a small-scale narrative inquiry with a group of desisting men to explore the ways in which their emotions were implicated both in their offending behaviour and in their re-biography of their sense of themselves as men; a transformation in their narratised identities which appeared to underpin their desistance. The chapter begins by providing a brief critical exploration of the ‘place’ of emotions in criminology and in theorisations of desistance. It then highlights the relatively few existing studies of desistance which pay attention to the role and significance of emotions in change and explores the implications of such work. Finally, the chapter draws on empirical work to show how emotions, particularly fear and shame, were key to the transformative experiences of participants.

Emotions, crime and criminology

The role of emotions, particularly vengeance and revenge, were clearly visible in pre-Enlightenment thinking and practices around punishment and social control, and a return to ‘emotive’ and ‘ostentatious’ punishments has been seen as characteristic of a shift in penal (and popular) sensibilities which has marked late modernity (Pratt, 2000). However, for much of its history criminology has neglected emotions, viewing them with suspicion and as unworthy of serious attention or investigation (Farrall et al, 2014). This neglect is noted to have its roots in criminology's Enlightenment origins whereby offenders were characterised as free-willed, rational actors, responsive to deterrent penalties. Since that time a defining feature of western thinking has of course been the way in which reason and emotion have been regarded as opposing and differently valued forces, with the emotional seen as ‘less than’ the rational – more lowly, primitive, natural and also feminine. Since the 1970s, not least due to feminist scholarship which challenged these assumptions and highlighted their damaging implications, there has been a resurgence of interest in the emotions across the humanities and many of the social sciences. However, criminology's origins along with its enduring commitment to what Garland (2002) terms the ‘Lombrosian’ and ‘governmental’ projects means that it has been particularly slow to embrace thinking about emotions.