Date of Defense
12-11-2025 9:00 AM
Location
Room 1116, H1 Building
Document Type
Thesis Defense
Degree Name
Master of Governance and Public Policy
College
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
Government and Society
First Advisor
Abdulfattah Yaghi
Keywords
Former incarcerated, desistance, rehabilitation, UAE, personal agency, social reintegration, stigma.
Abstract
Research on desistance has helped criminologists to better understand how people change their criminal identity and exercise personal choice. Yet in the UAE, these ideas has not often been applied to prisoners serving one or multiple offenses, even though incarceration and reoffending remain important social concerns. Because of this, desistance theory has not been fully used to study how rehabilitation is managed in UAE prisons, which means that some useful lessons may be missed. This study begins to close that gap by looking at the personal stories of 15 Emirati participants that were formerly incarcerated by adapting a qualitative and phenomenological approach. The findings show that many individuals try to change their lives during or after prison, but often in ways that differ from the official focus on risk control and punishment. Instead, their change is strongly influenced by family, cultural values, age, and the specific events that led to their imprisonment. The analysis identified four main types of personal agency: Unaware and fractured individuals, who avoided taking responsibility and often fell back into negative cycles; and corrective and redemptive individuals, who accepted responsibility and worked toward change in different ways. Each group described their crimes, prison life, and rehabilitation experiences differently. Most importantly, the study shows that much of the positive change happened outside formal programs—through family support, self-reflection, spiritual practices, and peer groups. This raises key questions about whether prisons and prisoners in the UAE view rehabilitation in the same way, and whether ignoring these personal and cultural factors weakens the impact of correctional policies.
Included in
UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS: A CASE STUDY OF EMIRATI EX-OFFENDERS IN UNITED ARAB
Room 1116, H1 Building
Research on desistance has helped criminologists to better understand how people change their criminal identity and exercise personal choice. Yet in the UAE, these ideas has not often been applied to prisoners serving one or multiple offenses, even though incarceration and reoffending remain important social concerns. Because of this, desistance theory has not been fully used to study how rehabilitation is managed in UAE prisons, which means that some useful lessons may be missed. This study begins to close that gap by looking at the personal stories of 15 Emirati participants that were formerly incarcerated by adapting a qualitative and phenomenological approach. The findings show that many individuals try to change their lives during or after prison, but often in ways that differ from the official focus on risk control and punishment. Instead, their change is strongly influenced by family, cultural values, age, and the specific events that led to their imprisonment. The analysis identified four main types of personal agency: Unaware and fractured individuals, who avoided taking responsibility and often fell back into negative cycles; and corrective and redemptive individuals, who accepted responsibility and worked toward change in different ways. Each group described their crimes, prison life, and rehabilitation experiences differently. Most importantly, the study shows that much of the positive change happened outside formal programs—through family support, self-reflection, spiritual practices, and peer groups. This raises key questions about whether prisons and prisoners in the UAE view rehabilitation in the same way, and whether ignoring these personal and cultural factors weakens the impact of correctional policies.