Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Journal of Criminology
Publisher
SAGE
School
School of Arts and Humanities
RAS ID
64519
Abstract
This paper contributes to the growing body of scholarship related to the impact of imprisonment on families, from the particular perspective of parents, siblings and other close relatives of people serving a life sentence. We argue that those family members are often overlooked in research and service provision, while bearing the burden of the association with the offender. This is particularly problematic for relatives of life sentenced prisoners, having to cope with the seriousness of the offence, and the uncertainty of the perspectives of release. Based on 17 interviews conducted in Western Australia, we discuss family members’ confrontation with and experiences throughout the criminal justice system. We report on how they manage to “live with life” and which coping mechanisms they developed. Our findings call for more investment into the matter, to generate a scholarship for a better understanding of and supporting initiatives for those close relatives.
DOI
10.1177/26338076231214554
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Tubex, H., & Gately, N. (2023). “Living with life”: Experiences of families of people serving a life sentence in Western Australia. Journal of Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/26338076231214554