Life after Life Imprisonment by Catherine Appleton (, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies in the School of Law, University of Leeds.)
This new and important title explores one of the most contentious and sensitive topics in criminal justice: the release and resettlement of life-sentenced offenders. Life after Life Imprisonment provides an in-depth analysis of the post-prison experiences of 138 discretionary life-sentenced offenders, all of whom were released from prison across England and Wales during the mid-1990s. Using accessible and engaging data the book examines key legal developments within the criminal justice system for discretionary life-sentenced offenders, explores the frontline experiences of criminal justice practitioners charged with the responsibility of supervising life-sentenced offenders and analyses the 'stories' or life narratives of a group of individuals who have committed some of the most serious crimes. The book also examines the process of recall for life-sentenced prisoners and explores key factors associated with failure in the community. This work therefore contributes to a variety of different areas of theoretical concern to legal scholars and criminologists as well as to applied areas of interest to practitioners in the field. Significantly, the book offers a major insight into how societies respond to serious crimes and identifies important elements of successful reintegration for released life-sentenced offenders.