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Let’s Dance: Exploring Dance Programs in Prisons in the Context of Reentry  


Author:  Amy Sheppard.; Rose Ricciardelli.


Source: Volume 25, Number 04, Summer 2016 , pp.9-15(7)




Journal of Community Justice (formerly Journal of Community Corrections)

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Abstract: 

This article uses the theory of cognitive transformation to explore how dance programming offered in prison settings can contribute to desistance from crime within the context of reintegration. It examines the benefits of arts-based programming in general, and dance programming in particular, through a literature review of such programs offered in prisons throughout North America and the United Kingdom. Drawing on social work experience within prison settings and as academics, the authors examine the impact of prison living on the body and the potential for dance programming to resemble rehabilitative programming. Benefits of dance programming and experiences within prisons are connected to the notion of desistance from crime, together suggesting a model of program delivery that can be used in prison rehabilitation.

Keywords: Desistance from crime, dance in prison, arts-based programming, cognitive transformation, bodies in prison, rehabilitation

Affiliations:  1: Memorial University of Newfoundland; 2: Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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