Abstract
The emerging literature on desistance (and recovery from addictions) has largely focused on key life-course transitions that can broadly be characterised as the need for jobs (meaningful activities), friends (transitioning from using and offending to pro-social) and houses (a place to live that is free from threat). The recovery literature has coined the term ârecovery capitalâ to characterise the personal, social and community resources that an individual can draw upon to support their recovery, partly bridging agentic (personal) and structural (community) factors. The development of the concept of âjustice capitalâ furthers this reconciliation, by focusing on both the resources an individual can access and the resources that an institution can provide and support. We build on this idea by outlining the concept of institutional justice capital (IJC) to examine the role of criminal justice institutions in supporting or suppressing the growth of recovery capital, particularly in excluded and marginalised groups. We use a case study approach, drawing on recent research experience in prisons in Australia and the United Kingdom to develop a model of justice capital at an institutional level and discuss how this can shape both reform of, for instance, prisons, and how it can be matched to the needs of individual offenders. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions in implementing an IJC model, to deliver a strengths-based approach to supporting and promoting desistance and creating a metric for assessing the rehabilitative and relational activities of institutions.Â
Published Version
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