ABSTRACT
Barriers are a normal part of the desistance process (Bottoms and Shapland, 2016). How these barriers are responded to, however, vary across different penal and social settings. Drawing on a qualitative comparative study of female desisters in Sweden and England, this chapter will explore how different structural ‘ladders’ – conceptualised as allegorical apparatuses for overcoming barriers and enabling positive change – are experienced by women in these diverse penal cultures. The findings clearly suggest that women in the Swedish sample subjectively experience significantly more ‘ladders’ compared to women in the English setting, exemplified in areas such as opportunities for supported re-location, personalised access to treatment, and access to multiagency employment support, underpinned by wage subsidy schemes. It is argued that by encouraging a lived sense of inclusion and self-worth, these processes in turn carry constructive desistance functions, effectively promoting a willingness to participate in, and positively contribute to, ‘mainstream’ society.
