Open regime, conditional release, and resettlement (PID2022-140171NB-I00). Funded by: Ministerio de Ciencia y Innovación. Duration: 1/10/2023 a 1/10/2026. Researchers: Josep Cid (PI), Leonor M. Cantera, Joel Martí, Jenny Cubells, Constanza Busquets, Albert Pedrosa, Anna Meléndez.
The project is aimed at researching the mechanisms that explain the effectiveness of open regime and conditional release in achieving resettlement. We understand that a person with an offender career is resettled when he/she can avoid reoffending -primary desistance- assumes a conventional identity -secondary desistance- and he/she is reintegrated in society (family, work, community) – tertiary desistance-. The baseline of the proposal is the research carried out in our previous project Imprisonment and Recidivism, in which we concluded that ending the sentence in open regime or in conditional release was the key factor in reducing the risk of recidivism. After a literature review, we have selected four possible mechanisms that may explain the positive impact of open regime and parole on recidivism: a) increase the stake in conformity because of + job settlement, b) cognitive transformation due to modelling and reinforcement by supervisors; c) moral duty to change for the support received; d) diachronic self-control based on the surveillance. The research will be carried out in two different Spanish autonomous communities (Catalonia and Madrid). We have designed a qualitative methodology, proposing a typological analysis of a sample of offenders serving the prison sentence in open regime or in conditional release. The typology has been built with three axes that, besides the way of ending the prison sentence, were associated with the outcome of recidivism: age at first imprisonment (young or young adult); abuse of drugs and alcohol (present or absent); criminal family or peers (present or absent). In each of the two settings, 40 cases covering the different profiles, will be selected and biographical information will be collected through interviews with offenders and supervisors. The aim of the analysis will consist of identifying the mechanisms of change that appear and compare the different profiles. The research should be useful to improve the practice of supervision focusing the intervention on those mechanisms that explain change. Moreover, the proposal may contribute to the extension of community control, replacing custodial sentences.
EmpiriC+: a Criminology to and for a digitalised society (RED2022-134677-T). Funded by: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Duration: 1/06/2023 a 1/06/2025. Researchers: Ana Isabel Cerezo (PI), Esther Fernández, Elena Larrauri, Gemma Varona, Fernando Miró, Daniel Varona, Josep Cid.
EmpiriC+ is articulated as a second phase of the EmpiriC network, which is once again committed to joining the efforts of researchers of the highest level in Criminology through the coordination of seven universities from different parts of Spain. Thus, this network will be made up of the Universities Pompeu Fabra, Autónoma de Barcelona, Girona, Basque Country, Castilla-La Mancha, Miguel Hernández de Elche and the University of Málaga, with the latter acting as the network’s coordinator. The joint work of these groups will result in the strengthening of the synergies already generated by the previous network, materialising in the achievement of significant advances in the field of criminological research. In the same way, this network maintains its initial objectives regarding the contribution of knowledge and tools to the public authorities to help in the approval and correct implementation of efficient policies focused on crime prevention. Furthermore, EmpiriC+ will base one of its main lines of action on transcending the academic sphere, allowing citizens to join the criminal policy debate, until now maintained by the Academy and social actors related to this discipline – prisons, victims’ associations, state security forces and corps – as a valid interlocutor. Thus, this social participation allows Spain to come closer to the fulfilment of the goals set by the 2030 Agenda, specifically number 16, related to obtaining “peace, justice and strong institutions”. Likewise, the second axis that will mark the activity of EmpiriC+ will be to analyse crime crossed by Information and Communication Technologies, thus adapting Criminology to the challenges posed by a society that is advancing at a dizzying pace like the current one.
