Life Beyond Murder

Book excerpt: Detailing the resettlement narratives of five men who have committed different types of murder (confrontational/revenge, financial gain, random, intimate partner femicide, and family feud), this book counters narratives of neoliberal, ‘responsibilizing’ messages of individualism to investigate what informs their experiences of resettlement. Life Beyond Murder: Exploring the Identity Reconstruction of Mandatory Lifers After Release explores the impact of mandatory lifers’ institutionalisation, families, consumer culture, emotions, and supervision, considering how these factors hamper or assist with their transition from the stigmatising identity of being ‘dangerous murderers’. The book’s discussion is guided by the men’s narratives, employing a ‘tug of war’ metaphor to elucidate the ‘push-pull forces’ that influence the men’s efforts to reconstruct their lives in the years following their release. To be successful, the book argues, these men have to reconcile a paradoxical situation, and the most skilled mandatory lifers manage to relativise their involvement in murder whilst concomitantly showing remorse. This situation is achieved through a Splitting Narrative that ultimately defends against anxiety, contains internal stigma, and often showcases self-flagellant remorse, as they move towards positive social identities such as philanthropists, family men, wounded healers, and pious members of the church.