22/05/2026
Unresolved grief can contribute to offending behaviour, yet it is too often overlooked.
This week, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Grief Support and the Impact of Death on Society explored the relationship between unsupported and unresolved grief, prisons, and offending behaviour.
Speakers highlighted growing evidence on bereavement contributing to crime and re-offending, including loss in childhood and adolescence shaping life outcomes, 91% of young male offenders having been bereaved, crime directly resulting from a bereavement, and ‘grief overload’, with custody adding to loss and making it more complex and difficult to process.
The meeting noted how acknowledgment of traumatic grief and unresolved loss as part of prisoner rehabilitation may help reduce rates of recidivism, and heard calls for bereavement support to be more widely recognised across policy, public services, and prison settings, including support for the wider roll-out of The Bereavement Journey® in prisons.
We are grateful to the parliamentarians supporting the APPG and engaging so thoughtfully with this conversation, and we hope this will spark further conversation and meaningful action.
Our thanks also to Mandy Gosling, Dr Nina Vaswani, Dr Marion Wilson, and Dr Dawn Hobson, speaking on behalf of Chaplain Revd Nicky Grey, for sharing such important insight into the relationship of unsupported grief to crime.
Cruse Bereavement Support WAY Widowed And Young Child Bereavement UK
