“It’s not punishment; it’s for their own good”: A positioning analysis of compassion in parole work

Compassion is often assumed to be an unequivocally positive phenomenon that naturally yields generative outcomes such as healing, empowerment, and connection. This study challenges that assumption by demonstrating how compassion functions as a form of discipline. Drawing on over 100 hours of ethnographic fieldwork within a state corrections department and interviews with parole officers (n = 12) and administrators (n = 5), we identified three positioning strategies that officers utilized to recognize, relate, and (re)act to suffering: (a) culpable positioning, (b) sanctimonious positioning, and (c) paternalistic positioning. While these positioning strategies appear coercive, officers (re)interpreted them as necessary acts of support that guide supervisees toward rehabilitation. These findings extend compassion scholarship by resituating compassion as an ambiguous, occasionally disciplinary discursive process.