Social capital, mutual aid, and desistance: a theoretically integrated process model

Albertson, Katherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6678-5590 and Albertson, Kevin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6678-5590 (2023) Social capital, mutual aid, and desistance: a theoretically integrated process model. The British Journal of Criminology: an international review of crime and society, 63 (5). pp. 1255-1273. ISSN 0007-0955

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Abstract

Positive social capital building outcomes were identified in a longitudinal evaluation of a veteran-specific initiative supporting desistance from crime and substance misuse. A secondary analysis of the qualitative data generated is presented here. We identify three transformational subjective re-alignments across the veteran cohort who sustained their engagement in the mutual aid initiative. These re-alignments are linked to the mobilisation of bonding, bridging, and linking sources of social capital. We directly align mutual aid practice dynamics with the micro-, meso- and macro-level distinctions highlighted in relational desistance explanatory frameworks. Our analysis provides new insights into the relationship between social capital building and desistance. We present a theoretically informed social capital building process model highlighting the generalisability of our findings to wider (ex-) offender populations.