Purposes Perceived in the Sentence

Abstract

This chapter examines to what extent justifications of punishment find expression in prisoners’ accounts of their sentence. Consequently, the starting point for analysis is ‘etic’ (Silverman, 2001) — it largely draws on concepts originating from sources external to the research. In the next two chapters, these views will be put into context, drawing on the participants’ overall narrative of their sentence, within which perceptions of purpose did not always sit easily. For example, criticisms about prison failing in its aim to rehabilitate did not translate into critical accounts of imprisonment. Such tensions between purposes perceived and overall narratives will also be examined in the subsequent chapters.