Life-sentenced prisoners, crime victims, and the multidialog of parole
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12664391 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Netanel Dagan (0000-0001-5610-8801, The Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, corresponding author), Hadar Dancig‐Rosenberg (0000-0002-1946-7992, Bar-Ilan University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1078-1097 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-28 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Punishment & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1462-4745 • E-ISSN: 1741-3095 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14624745251360346 |
| OpenAlex | W4413095560 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
This study examined the dynamics of communication between prisoners sentenced for life (lifers), their victims, and parole boards. Against the backdrop of penal dialogue imagined by penal theorists, we analyzed the narratives of lifers and of their victims during parole hearings in Israel, to explore the construction of a multi-dialogue between prisoners, victims, and parole boards. Our findings reveal that both lifers and victims predominantly framed the crime and its aftermath in personal rather than public terms. Lifers expressed persistent internal anguish, the perceived impossibility of self-forgiveness, and the enduring memory of their victims. Victims emphasized private harm, concerns about the risk that perpetrators still present, and the imperative of commemorating the deceased. We critically assessed whether these narratives challenged or complemented the assumptions of the communicative theory of punishment, which advocates a formal censure-oriented, public-focused penal dialogue culminating in reconciliation. This research investigates possible gaps between communicative ideals and penal realities concerning life imprisonment and uncovers the potential inherent in parole hearings as a communicative penal forum
Criminology · Forgiveness · Harm · Impossibility · Imprisonment · Life imprisonment · Narrative · Political science · Prison · Punishment (psychology · Sociology · Typology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Forgiveness and Related Behaviors · Law · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending · Social Psychology
Forgiveness and Restorative Justice
Philosophies and Decision Making in Parole Board Members
Where Is This Story Going? A Critical Analysis of the Emerging Field of Narrative Criminology
The parole dossier and its negative impacts on prisoner identity
Victims, Punishment, and Parole
Time's relentless melt’
Remorse and the production of truth
Punishment as moral communication
Walking on ice’
Negotiating penal hybridity
Communicative punishment as a penal approach to supporting desistance
Degradation or Redemption? A Parole Board Polices a Moral Boundary
Making sense of the victim’s role in clemency decision making
Listening to the Crime Victim
Communicating Censure
An Ambiguous Participant
Assessing Evil
Conflicts as Property
Reentry as a rite of passage
How parole boards judge remorse
| Highly cited | No |
|---|