Assisting Stuart's Transition From Custody: Transition Theory, Self And Other, Structuration Transitional Theory

You are a newly appointed Youth Offending Officer working in an inner city YOT.  You have been given the case notes of a case called Stuart.  The case notes provide the following information.  Stuart is 17 years old and is currently in a Youth Offending Institution (YOI).  He is coming to the end of a six month Detention and Training Order.  Stuart had been detained for grievous bodily harm – to the brother of a ‘rival gang member’.  The attack took place in Stuart’s neighbourhood.  Your task is to aid Stuart’s transition from custody and help him resettle into his community.    

Stuart’s attendance at school has always been an issue and he is well known by the educational welfare service.  Stuart gained little qualifications at school and has difficulty reading and writing.  Stuart lived at home with his mother and 5-year-old younger half-sister until he was asked to leave at the age of 16.  Stuart has had no contact with his biological father since the age of two.  The father of his half-sister (Steve) was present in the home until Stuart was 13.  Stuart engaged well with Steve and was devastated when he left.  Stuart has lived on friends’ sofas for a year before his arrest.  Stuart is well known in his neighbourhood and has many friends that have a similar profile to him.  Whilst truanting from school Stuart ‘hung around’ with a group of friends that were all involved in petty crimes such as vandalism and theft.  Stuart appeared in front of the youth court magistrates on three occasions due to such offences.   Stuart has admitted to taking cannabis and sniffing glue during this time.  He considers these to be an issue and wishes to refrain from such activity.

During his three months in custody Stuart has engaged with a community project with an outreach centre of the local college.  This has enabled Stuart to be involved in a basic painting and decorating course with basic literacy and numeracy support.   Stuart has attended well.  However this services is on the verge of being cut.  Stuart has mostly behaved well in custody but has been involved in a couple of fights with other inmates for which he has been punished.

Stuart has had a visit from his mother and half-sister whilst in custody and his mother has informed social services that she is willing to have Stuart back at home as long as he ‘behaves himself’.  Stuart would like to gain some work experience on the outside as a painter and decorator.

Transition theory

The manner in which young people would respond to the community phase after being released from custody is significant for two essential reasons. Firstly, it is because of the resettlement program that the government has initiated which promotes the essence of post-release of the youth offenders from custody. Secondly, the young adults face new compulsory supervision period that lasts for a minimum period of one year after being released from custody, which results in persisting statutory responsibility for the resettlement of the youth offenders from custody (Board 2014).

The youth offenders often face emotional distress during the transition period that commences from the time a youth offender is released from the custody until the time such offender is resettled into the community. The significance of transition themes lies in the fact that it enables the offenders to combat with the problems that they face while encountering with life after being released from prison. As per Giddens (1991), the first transition theme ‘self and other’ implies that people live in societies with others where to understand the concept of ‘self ’, it is important to understand the concept of ‘others’ and vice-versa. It requires that the offender be given opportunity to understand himself/herself and his or her needs.

On the facts here, Stuart is said to be in the company of friends that are engaged in petty crimes such as theft and vandalism. While he is being released from the custody, it is essential to assist him in resettling into the community. In order to provide such assistance, the first step would be to let him understand his own self as it forms an essential transition measures. This would help him understand whether he would like to lead a criminal free and a peaceful life or whether he would like to be in association with his friends engaged in criminal activities. This would enable him to distinguish between a normal life and continuing a life in association with the criminal friends that might ultimately result in imprisonment for life.

He is aware that his association with his criminal friends has caused him to make appearance before the magistrate court thrice for omitting such offences such as theft and vandalism. Furthermore, Stuart had been detained for grievous bodily harm to the brother of a ‘rival gang member’. Moreover, Stuart is also engaged in consuming marijuana and sniff glue. Since, Stuart wishes to quit being engaged in such activities, it is essential that he listens to himself and select a better life after being released from prisons.

According to Giddens (1991), the other essential transition theme refers to the structuration theory that states that the conducts exhibited by people living in a society is significantly influenced by the structural characteristics of the societies; simultaneously, the people are the ones who recreate the societal characteristics in their actions. Social structures including people are capable of interpreting their actions within such societal structures influence the everyday actions carried out by people. If the actors decide to disobey the structures then they are likely to lose their influence and this notion is associated with the transition period of the youth offender from custody to community.

Self and other

The youth offenders, after they are released from prison, are to decide about their future and the most common suggestion that regarding future is to select the plausible routes that are not only pre-determined but are also influenced by the social structures. Such routes or pathways include graduate employment schemes and college courses. Nevertheless, the person released after custody is the ultimate navigator of the routes he would want to take. They are also free to pave their own routes, for instance engaging in self-employment (Bateman and Hazel 2015). 

On the facts here, after being released from six-month Detention and Training Order, Stuart is likely to be influenced by societal structures, which includes his mother and his half-sister. This is evident from the fact when his mother and his half system visited him in custody and stated that only if he behaves properly, she shall allow him to live with them at home. This implies that he likely to be influenced by the social structure to select the plausible routes such as graduate employment schemes or other college courses to set his future.

However, as per Giddens (1991), the structuration theory states that a person is his own navigator to decide his own direction for his future. While Stuart was in custody, he was engaged in community project with an outreach centre of the local college. He was engaged in decorating and painting course with the basic education that he gained while he was in school. However, Stuart has the freedom to setting his future in his own ways. He is interested in obtaining work experience as a decorator and painter. Since he was already gained experience in decorating and painting, it would be beneficial for him if he gained further experience in such work. This would aid him in resettling in the community easily and would not have to face difficulty in obtaining other employments that requires high educational qualification (Robinson 2016).

In order to assist Stuart to resettle in the community after being released from prison, it is important for him to gain an identity in the community, which he may receive from unearthing the characteristics of his descendants and family members. This aspect was initially, a part of the genealogy transition theory that has been established by Foucault, popularly known as a post-structural philosopher. Later, this aspect was used to discover history of social values and beliefs. This form of theory is used to identify the concealed suppositions that are related to the concepts and ideas used regularly. This theory explores the impact of modern age in supporting the humanitarian concerns that has not only reduced human sufferings but has also made the lives of the people better. According to Phoenix and Kelly (2013), this theory determines how progress values considers ‘career’ as a link to the economic activity. Nevertheless, according to Foucault this genealogical method is used only to discipline the humans, which is possible through power relations that are highly associated with knowledge. Power produces knowledge and that there is a direct implication between the both.

Structuration transitional theory

On the facts here, Stuart is not in contact with his biological father since he was 2 years old and resided with his step-dad, Steve, and had a good relation with him, until he was 13, and Steve left. He lived with his mother and his 5-year old stepsister until he was asked to leave at the age of 16. Therefore, as Foucault’s theory suggests that ‘career’ is associated with economic activity, in this context, the term ‘career’ refers to the evolution sequence of Steve’s wok experiences over time.

Steve had been engaged in decorating and painting courses while he was in custody, and he is interested to gain further experience and knowledge in decoration and painting. He would also be able to support his family comprising his mother and half sister. This transition of power and knowledge would assist him to resettle in the community as he already has knowledge about decorating and painting which he gained while he was in custody. This implies that if he gains knowledge about such painting and decorating courses, he would be powerful enough to become self-dependent.

The most essential concept associated with transition of a youth offender from custody to resettle into the community. The term ‘trans’ implies ‘cross’ which implies that transition induces a sense of movement, a transfer from one state, status, stage and /or to another. Transition can be perceived as a discontinuity in the life space of a person and such transition or transfer may be a prolonged transition when it takes place from childhood to adulthood. Transition from being to becoming may encompass several fateful moments, which influences one’s life. This concept of transition can be said to be entangled with the dualism of being and becoming. The fateful moments are regarded as moments of startlement where the person is uncertain about the role his future is about to play, which is completely unknown to the persisting former enacted narrative (Robinson 2016).

On the facts here, there has been a prolonged transition in Stuart’s life, which is evident from his childhood days when he lost contact with his biological father at the age of two and was being brought up by his stepfather, Steve. He was attached to his stepfather who also left when he was 13 which affected him significantly. His mother asked him to leave house by the time he was 16. He started wandering with boys engaged in petty offences resulting in arrests for committing petty crimes. Now, as he walks into the phase of his adulthood, he wishes to gain work experiences and be employed to become self-dependent.

This signifies a transition from his childhood to adulthood where he had endured several fateful moments starting from dissatisfaction, disappointments, and detachments with family to becoming criminal. Thus, this transition may affect Stuart’s life significantly and as his dilemma about to unfold at a pace. However, it is still unclear how he would be able to contemplate such transition, whether he would rely on the concepts of human beings to lead a better life or would he continue to follow his previous notions of leading life.

Reference:

Bateman, T. and Hazel, N., 2015. Custody to community: How young people cope with release. Beyond Youth Custody.

Bateman, T., Hazel, N. and Wright, S., 2013. Resettlement of young people leaving custody: lessons from the literature.

Board, Y.J., 2014. Youth Justice Statistics 2012/13. Youth Justice Board/Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin available online https://www. gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278549/youth-justice-stats-2013. pdf.

Foucault, M., 1980. Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977. Pantheon.

Giddens, A., 1991. Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford university press

Hanham, J. and Tracey, D., 2017. Evolution of Mentoring Relationships Involving Young Male Offenders Transitioning from a Juvenile Justice Centre to the Community. Youth Justice, p.1473225417699169.

Hazel, N. and Bateman, T., 2013. Resettlement after prisons: What the Government needs to know for the new youth custody Bill.

Heath, R.A. and Priest, H.M., 2016. Examining experiences of transition, instability and coping for young offenders in the community: A qualitative analysis. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 21(2), pp.224-239.

Heizmann, H. and Olsson, M.R., 2015. Power matters: the importance of Foucault’s power/knowledge as a conceptual lens in KM research and practice. Journal of Knowledge Management, 19(4), pp.756-769.

Phoenix, J. and Kelly, L., 2013. ‘You Have to do it for Yourself’ Responsibilization in Youth Justice and Young People’s Situated Knowledge of Youth Justice Practice. British Journal of Criminology, 53(3), pp.419-437.

Robinson, A., 2016. The resilience motif: Implications for youth justice. Youth Justice, 16(1), pp.18-33.

Zimring, F.E. and Langer, M., 2016. One theme or many? The search for a deep structure in global juvenile justice.