A soccer-based intervention improves incarcerated individuals’ behaviour and public acceptance through group bonding

Martha Newson (), Linus Peitz, Jack Cunliffe and Harvey Whitehouse
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Martha Newson: University of Oxford
Linus Peitz: University of Oxford
Jack Cunliffe: University of Kent
Harvey Whitehouse: University of Oxford

Nature Human Behaviour, 2024, vol. 8, issue 12, 2304-2313

Abstract: Abstract As incarceration rates rise globally, the need to reduce re-offending grows increasingly urgent. We investigate whether positive group bonds can improve behaviours among incarcerated people via a unique soccer-based prison intervention, the Twinning Project. We analyse effects of participation compared to a control group (study 1, n = 676, n = 1,874 control cases) and longitudinal patterns of social cohesion underlying these effects (study 2, n = 388) in the United Kingdom. We also explore desistance from crime after release (study 3, n = 249) in the United Kingdom and the United States. As law-abiding behaviour also requires a supportive receiving community, we assessed factors influencing willingness to employ formerly incarcerated people in online samples in the United Kingdom and the United States (studies 4–9, n = 1,797). Results indicate that social bonding relates to both improved behaviour within prison and increased willingness of receiving communities to support re-integration efforts. Harnessing the power of group identities both within prison and receiving communities can help to address the global incarceration crisis.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-02006-3

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