A Critical Reflection of Victimhood Narratives in Criminal Justice Spaces

A Critical Reflection of Victimhood Narratives in Criminal Justice Spaces 

This blog is likely to be controversial to a great many people in the Criminology and Criminal Justice field. However, at times, we have to stand up and speak our truth, even if it's uncomfortable for some; otherwise, we lose our integrity and fail to provide alternative, critical perspectives. In the UK, we - the general public, both left and right - seem to be obsessed at the moment with vilifying criminal justice institutions and services. I have a few reflective observations about this contemporary, widely accepted meta-narrative of an oppressive criminal justice system and how we - academics and critical reformers - seemingly seek to elevate the voices of people like me with "lived experience" of what is often described as "system harms." 

I'm someone who grew up in a chaotic, traumatic and impoverished home. I spent time in the care system and although I hardly attended primary or secondary school, my drug induced dysfunctional behaviour still managed to get me excluded from school in year 10. This meant I was able to spend time with lots of other unfortunate young people and adults who didn't spend their time being constructive members of society, and unfortunately I was sent to prison as a 17 year old as a result. As with many ex-prisoners with similar complex relational backgrounds, it didn't deter me from further offending and I was in and out of prison for most of my young adult life. 

If anything, I would be forgiven for having a negative view towards the police, probation, prison staff and criminal justice systems in general, as one view could be that it failed to help me stay on the straight and narrow - even made me worse. Another view could be that the criminal justice system is indeed a punishment apparatus as much as it is a rehabilitation service. I continued to commit crime - yes, as a result of a challenging childhood - but the justice system responds to crime, and I committed crime, so by and large it did a significant part of the job that it is supposed to do for the public and my victims, even if it was at a cost for me at the individual level. Specifically evaluating the role that the justice system played in my overall desistance journey, is impossible for me to answer, let alone a third party observer or researcher. Desistance is the journey one takes from being a persistent offender to desisting from crime for good and being accepted by our community as being more than the crimes we committed.

I am not a person who feels the need to stand up for the criminal justice sector, as it doesn't need me to do so, it is a powerful entity, with both limitations and strengths. However, I do have concerns about the way we - here in the UK - seemingly degrade the police, probation and the prison service as institutions. Whilst we also simultaneously elevate "justice contacted people" as if they are the victims of state involvement. It seems a little odd to me that we are allowing people to stand up and make victimhood claims as if they were randomly selected by some arbitrary justice mechanism, holding little to no agency for creating victims through their behaviour. I was effectively incarcerated as a care experienced, heroin addicted child. I can speak all day long about how this can be a challenge for people who end up in such circumstances, but in the end, I was selling drugs in the community. I was not a victim of the criminal justice system, but a victim of the family system first and foremost and it feels uncomfortable when I hear adults who have been convicted of crime and sent to prison claiming victimhood and blaming the "criminal justice system" for mistreating them. 

Below is a passage from my first book, which is a memoir, titled Your Honour Can I Tell You My Story. I took a moment to read my personal narrative as I wanted to reflect on what my presented narrative was before I started writing about my own "lived experience," and it made me reflect and realise what I was wresting with. Moreover, why these current victim narratives I am constantly hearing are a little unsettling for me, personally. As you can clearly see in this passage, when I talk about my "lived experience," I'm often taking about the life of crime I was raised in, the childhood trauma, the instability and dysfunction that led to me being involved in crime and my criminality itself. You see, for me personally, prison and "justice contact" so to speak were a result of what I would describe as my lived experience, a manifestation of all my life challenges. However, for many who claim "lived experience" victimhood narratives, they're talking about their contact with a harmful justice system as they see it. 

This has two undiscussed consequences for me: 1) It allows people to present themselves as victims and often leave out the reasons they came into contact with the justice system, or disclose the community harms they were involved in when they speak in public, aside of maybe the actual crime they were punished for. As you can see in this passage from my book, I wanted to get to the complexity of my criminality, why I behaved in such ways and how I felt about the impact of my behaviour on others, including my family, and how I knew I had to take personal responsibility for my actions. 2) These victim narratives also make the system a negative entity that systematically harms people, making them the victims, often disregarding the victims of their (our) behaviour. I know the system isn't perfect, and the police, probation and prison service in particular have chronic problems. Indeed, I've written about this extensively since the writing of my first book and moving into academic employment. It is indeed here, in academia, where I see this victimhood narrative play out the strongest. This is likely to be a result of everything within society being explained through post modern ideas of simplicity, breaking all society down to a binary a explanation of 'oppressed' and 'oppressors.' The system is always an oppressor as it has power and the little guy is always the oppressed. For any of us who have spent any time in custody should know full well that this world view can't play out in practice, as although prison is full of people who have experienced social barriers, labelling them (us) "victims" of oppression is a complete misrepresentation of the lived reality of the incarcerated.  

However, my conclusion is that we live in a country with one of the most open and transparent criminal justice systems in the world. Yes, of course, there are limitations, and my argument isn't that we should just blame people who go to prison as if most of us didn't experience inequality, poverty and trauma prior to going to prison. But if "system harm" is what constructs lived experience, from my observation, this is resulting in academic and middle-class people conveniently allowing ex-prisoners who had cultural, human and social capital prior to going to prison lead the way and they are seemingly creating this victimhood narrative we are seeing play out. These are the most likely individuals to feel stigmatised by their "system contact" and are perfect folk to enter middle-class spaces to speak about their experiences as if they were 'oppressed' by the criminal justice system. Lived experience isn't just about "system contact" for many people like me. For example, being in contact with the justice system was just a part of the journey, almost an inevitable trajectory of my relational and family system. The police and the wider justice system do need to be more effective and recognise the inequalities in society that can often lead to criminality. However, the moment we make victims out of people who have committed crimes within their community, and perpetrators of people who turn up to work and attempt to keep communities safe and maintain law and order, in my view, the pendulum has swung too far. I am of the view that deconstructing and degrading the institutions that have been built over our long history is not the right way to maintain crime and order or address inequalities. Yes, as I know more than most, many of us who get entangled in criminality are made up of people with complex backgrounds enshrined in economic and relational poverty. But let us not forget, as was the case with me, that many of our victims are also navigating the same societal challenges we are!

I know. I told ya this would rustle a few feathers, but I'm also sure there will be a few reading that will agree with every word. 

Thanks for reading!