Terminal Liminality, Life Imprisonment and the Paroled Body

Based on an in-depth analysis of parole board hearings in Israel concerning life sentence prisoners who are old or severely ill, we argue that, rather than opening a window onto new beginnings, parole hearings place applicants in a state of terminal liminality that marks a transition from life into...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: Vannier, Marion (Author) ; Dagan, Netanel (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2025, Volume: 65, Issue: 5, Pages: 960-976
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Parole
Life Imprisonment
Body
Death
Old Age
Release
Punishment
Liminality
Description
Summary:Based on an in-depth analysis of parole board hearings in Israel concerning life sentence prisoners who are old or severely ill, we argue that, rather than opening a window onto new beginnings, parole hearings place applicants in a state of terminal liminality that marks a transition from life into death. We uncover how terminal liminality entails constructing a broken paroled body before the parole board, where matters of life and death are performed, detailed, and contextualized. We further lay out a taxonomy to discuss applicants’ negotiation of terminal liminality through fatalism, resilience, resistance and hope, uncovering how they navigate penal and biological ‘clocks’. The performance of the broken paroled body at the back-end of the criminal justice system is revelatory of the punitiveness of the penal system towards the ageing prison population.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azae082