Dance therapy and the criminal justice system: Considering traditional and critical perspectives in prisons, forensic mental health and addiction care

Abstract

Dance therapy can be beneficial for people detained in prisons and other correctional facilities, yet conceptualising research and practice with incarcerated participants can be complex and multifaceted. On one hand, traditional perspectives align with behaviourism and take a medical approach to analysing and articulating the benefits of dance therapy for criminal cohorts. On the other hand, social justice perspectives highlight the limitations of individual behavioural change and look to broader socio-political contexts to explain the ways in which institutions and systems adversely impact the lives and experiences of criminalised people. Taking these different views into consideration, our..