Preventing the revolving door – reflections on the qualitative research
Last week, Revolving Doors and Newton published our landmark report, Preventing the revolving door: data and voices for change. Combining groundbreaking data analysis with profound insight from people with lived experience of the cycle of reoffending, we were able to paint a clear picture of the revolving door – and those in it – for the first time.
Below are some reflections on the qualitative research from Head of Evidence & Impact, Lauren Bennett, who helped lead on the qualitative research which shed light on the real human stories behind the statistics.
The 20 in-depth interviews we carried out with Revolving Doors members gave us an opportunity to learn more about how unmet needs result in people becoming trapped in cycles of crisis and crime and, importantly, what factors enable people to break this cycle and lead happy, healthy, crime-free lives. We found:
- Substance use is a key driver behind offending – but if services do not focus on why people are using drugs and alcohol, they are unlikely to be able to address this.
People we spoke to recalled ongoing problems with drugs and/or alcohol which more often than not, resulted in police contact.
Their experiences showed that interventions that focused on their substance dependency in isolation were futile. Placing someone on Opiate Substitute Treatment without helping them to address the trauma and mental health needs that they are trying to mask through drug use unsurprisingly proved ineffective. As did asking individuals to go to drug or alcohol support groups whilst they were living in environments where substance use was rife.
- Abusive and/or coercive relationships play a significant role in women’s ongoing criminal justice contact.
Formal contact with the criminal justice system often began later into adulthood for women, after they had begun relationships which resulted in substance use and/or domestic violence. A lack of ongoing referrals and specialist support to address this meant that these relationships and patterns of offending continued; sometimes resulting in their children being removed, which exacerbated their trauma and distrust of the system.
Professionals in the criminal justice system need to look at the root causes of offending and work with specialist trauma and gender informed community services.
- Frontline staff, in the public and voluntary sector can and do change people’s lives for the better.
The interviews showed that when people are having multiple touchpoints with different services due to unmet needs, they need people to listen to them and believe in them. They also need help to navigate the often siloed and complicated system.
We heard examples of GPs referring people to suitable support and working with individuals to get them much needed diagnoses; probation practitioners motivating individuals to change their behaviour and access training courses linked to their interests; and support workers advocating to get someone moved to better quality accommodation.
Interactions with frontline staff and peer support workers can be transformative.
Ending up in the revolving door is not inevitable. But there is much to do to prevent patterns of reoffending and harm. Making public services more effective for those with particularly acute needs will save money, benefit communities and improve people’s lives.
I would like to end my reflections by giving thanks to our members for giving us their time and sharing their experiences and views. Your resilience and achievements continue to inspire me.
You can read the full report here: Preventing the revolving door.
