“I Feel like I’ve Come so Far with my Family”: Families of Origin in Women’s Desistance in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

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.