Not Guilty by Association: a discourse analysis of responses of family and friends to Joint Enterprise legislation in relation to ‘innocent prisoners’

Ingleby, Jacqueline (2015) Not Guilty by Association: a discourse analysis of responses of family and friends to Joint Enterprise legislation in relation to ‘innocent prisoners’. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This research aims to address this gap in our knowledge of how resistant actors make sense of rejecting devalued or stigmatised positions and project a resistant identity in attempts to challenge social structures and norms in an everyday context (Castells, 1999; Haslam & Reicher, in press). Adopting the semi-structured interview method, 6 members’ responses of grassroots campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA) were explored using POTLATCH analysis. This analysis highlighted participants’ orientations towards joint enterprise legislation as a law that unfairly criminalises social relationships. Participants resisted this categorisation of ‘guilty by association’ with the adoption of similar strategies as those appropriated by powers that dominate; challenging the belief that the powerful alone shape identity.