Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IndeSent (IndeSent: Indeterminate sentencing and imprisonment – an interdisciplinary study of the experiences of court processes and prison practices)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-01-01 do 2022-12-31
I applied for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship for several reasons. Despite the rich literature on indeterminate imprisonment in the Anglophone countries, the last explorative study of indeterminate imprisonment in the Nordic countries was conducted over 50 years ago, hence our understanding of contemporary experiences of indeterminate confinement was very limited. In Denmark, indeterminate sentences are given to people who commit very serious offences and who are deemed likely to reoffend due to previous offending and their mental state. Indeterminate sentences have one particular feature that sets them aside from all other types of imprisonment: there is no guarantee of ever being released. This uncertainty often results in severe pains for the prisoners in question.
My research project responds to the Council of Europe’s call for more research focused on the needs of the offender in the light of the negative effects of the often long-term imprisonment. I have provided an in-depth examination of the experience of being indeterminately sentenced by a court and of serving an indeterminate sentence in prison, illustrating the connections between the wider aims and functions of the penal state and the everyday practices, experiences, and interactions in prison. Usually, there is a sharp distinction between the allocation and delivery of punishment; the first happens in courts and the second in penal institutions. I have used ethnographic research methods (participant observation, in-depth interviews and focused conversations) to address this gap in the scholarship by focusing on the experiences of the indeterminate sentenced in the two arenas of punishment.
The overall research questions were:
RQ1: What characterises the communication in indeterminate sentence court processes?
RQ2: How does one imagine and then do an indeterminate sentence?
My research project responds to the Council of Europe’s call for more research focused on the needs of the offender in the light of the negative effects of the often long-term imprisonment. I have provided an in-depth examination of the experience of being indeterminately sentenced by a court and of serving an indeterminate sentence in prison, illustrating the connections between the wider aims and functions of the penal state and the everyday practices, experiences, and interactions in prison. Usually, there is a sharp distinction between the allocation and delivery of punishment; the first happens in courts and the second in penal institutions. I have used ethnographic research methods (participant observation, in-depth interviews and focused conversations) to address this gap in the scholarship by focusing on the experiences of the indeterminate sentenced in the two arenas of punishment.
The overall research questions were:
RQ1: What characterises the communication in indeterminate sentence court processes?
RQ2: How does one imagine and then do an indeterminate sentence?
Overall, I wrote around 200 pages of ethnographic fieldwork notes from courts and prisons, I conducted 35 qualitative interviews with prisoners serving indeterminate sentences and 15 interviews with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, observed 16 court cases and I transcribed, coded and analyzed these data.
Throughout the project, I have presented at workshops, seminars and conferences both nationally and internationally. I have maintained my strong ties to the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge and universities in Norway through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship. I have disseminated findings in 10 national and international workshops and conferences, 7 of which were invited presentations.
Together with my Marie Skłodowska-Curie supervisor Louise Victoria Johansen, I wrote a chapter titled "Moral Communication in Court" in the anthology ‘Courtroom Ethnography: Exploring contemporary approaches, fieldwork and challenges’. Lisa Flower & Sarah Klosterkamp who are both renowned socio-legal scholars edited the book. Citation and DOI: Johansen, L.V. Laursen, J. (2023). Moral Communication in Court. In: Flower, L., Klosterkamp, S. (eds) Courtroom Ethnography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37985-7_11. Read the chapter here: 2534132f-4deb-4a5c-b945-14f81b96c0f5.html
Importantly, the IndeSent project was extended with a year because I received a Carlsberg Foundation Fellowship (running from 2023-2024). This extension of the project means that I have almost a year left to arrange a workshop and publish these articles:
1) A descriptive paper on indeterminate sentencing and imprisonment. This article will be important for lawyers, judges, and other professionals working directly with indeterminate sentencing.
2) An article titled ’Ethical loneliness, (radical) hope and the indeterminate sentence’ in Theoretical Criminology – a high-impact, international journal. The article is using a moral philosophy framework to analyse how indeterminate prisoners feel abandoned by the State, the prison and themselves. This article will make an important contribution to the field of long-term imprisonment because of its novel empirical and theoretical foundation.
3) An article titled ’Punishment as a ‘contract’ between the State and the indeterminately sentenced’. This article is important because it tries to do what prisons researchers often struggle to do, namely theorize the State. The article takes its analytical departure in the relationship long-term prisoners have with the Danish State (represented by both the prosecution, judges, and the Prison Service), which they essentially portray as a ‘contract’. I will submit this article to the British Journal of Criminology.
4) An article titled ‘The peaceful prison – indeterminacy, power and order’, which will be published in the Nordic Journal of Criminology. This article was spurred on by my fascination by the fact that some prisons feel quiet, settled and organised rather than chaotic, violent and coercive. Based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, I aim to explain why this particular prison is largely characterised by order and peacefulness despite the fact that it holds prisoners serving long sentences for very serious crime.
5) An article on indeterminate sentencing as a ’pocket of punitiveness’ in "Incarceration" as part of a Themed Issue edited by myself and a PhD student. This article argues that indeterminate sentencing can be conceptualized as a ‘pocket’ of extreme measures in a penal context otherwise characterized by short prison sentences.
All of these articles will be Open Access.
Throughout the project, I have presented at workshops, seminars and conferences both nationally and internationally. I have maintained my strong ties to the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge and universities in Norway through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship. I have disseminated findings in 10 national and international workshops and conferences, 7 of which were invited presentations.
Together with my Marie Skłodowska-Curie supervisor Louise Victoria Johansen, I wrote a chapter titled "Moral Communication in Court" in the anthology ‘Courtroom Ethnography: Exploring contemporary approaches, fieldwork and challenges’. Lisa Flower & Sarah Klosterkamp who are both renowned socio-legal scholars edited the book. Citation and DOI: Johansen, L.V. Laursen, J. (2023). Moral Communication in Court. In: Flower, L., Klosterkamp, S. (eds) Courtroom Ethnography. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37985-7_11. Read the chapter here: 2534132f-4deb-4a5c-b945-14f81b96c0f5.html
Importantly, the IndeSent project was extended with a year because I received a Carlsberg Foundation Fellowship (running from 2023-2024). This extension of the project means that I have almost a year left to arrange a workshop and publish these articles:
1) A descriptive paper on indeterminate sentencing and imprisonment. This article will be important for lawyers, judges, and other professionals working directly with indeterminate sentencing.
2) An article titled ’Ethical loneliness, (radical) hope and the indeterminate sentence’ in Theoretical Criminology – a high-impact, international journal. The article is using a moral philosophy framework to analyse how indeterminate prisoners feel abandoned by the State, the prison and themselves. This article will make an important contribution to the field of long-term imprisonment because of its novel empirical and theoretical foundation.
3) An article titled ’Punishment as a ‘contract’ between the State and the indeterminately sentenced’. This article is important because it tries to do what prisons researchers often struggle to do, namely theorize the State. The article takes its analytical departure in the relationship long-term prisoners have with the Danish State (represented by both the prosecution, judges, and the Prison Service), which they essentially portray as a ‘contract’. I will submit this article to the British Journal of Criminology.
4) An article titled ‘The peaceful prison – indeterminacy, power and order’, which will be published in the Nordic Journal of Criminology. This article was spurred on by my fascination by the fact that some prisons feel quiet, settled and organised rather than chaotic, violent and coercive. Based on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with prisoners serving indeterminate sentences, I aim to explain why this particular prison is largely characterised by order and peacefulness despite the fact that it holds prisoners serving long sentences for very serious crime.
5) An article on indeterminate sentencing as a ’pocket of punitiveness’ in "Incarceration" as part of a Themed Issue edited by myself and a PhD student. This article argues that indeterminate sentencing can be conceptualized as a ‘pocket’ of extreme measures in a penal context otherwise characterized by short prison sentences.
All of these articles will be Open Access.
I have significantly expanded my research questions in light of my findings as the fieldwork progressed. This means that I am able to publish more broadly and more imaginatively than I had hoped to do because the fieldwork and the interviews evoked themes not previously covered by the long-term imprisonment scholarship. I have also been able to disseminate more directly to key stakeholders in the Danish Ministry of Justice and the Danish Prison and Probation Service than I had imagined because practioners were so interested in my findings. This includes presentations for and meetings with the Director of the Prison and Probation Service and the Director of the Research Centre in the Danish Ministry of Justice. I have also disseminated to staff and prisoners in the prison I worked in, as well as presented in various legal and forensic psychiatry settings.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship had a considerable impact on my career. One of my original goals was to apply for a Danish Research Council Sapere Aude Starting grant, and I got the grant in November 2023. This grant is a career maker; it is highly prestigious and competitive and it will make a big difference for my career by significantly improving my chances of securing a permanent academic research position.
I also applied for and was selected to participate in the intensive leadership course UCPH Forward offered by the University of Copenhagen. The program has already granted me a very strong network of top-level researchers, coaching and strategies for developing my leadership as well as a space to breathe, think and have fun during a very intense period of my working-life.
As an early career researcher, I cannot imagine that the project could have had any greater impact on my career.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship had a considerable impact on my career. One of my original goals was to apply for a Danish Research Council Sapere Aude Starting grant, and I got the grant in November 2023. This grant is a career maker; it is highly prestigious and competitive and it will make a big difference for my career by significantly improving my chances of securing a permanent academic research position.
I also applied for and was selected to participate in the intensive leadership course UCPH Forward offered by the University of Copenhagen. The program has already granted me a very strong network of top-level researchers, coaching and strategies for developing my leadership as well as a space to breathe, think and have fun during a very intense period of my working-life.
As an early career researcher, I cannot imagine that the project could have had any greater impact on my career.