ABSTRACT Identities change after major interpersonal events. However, there is comparatively little study of what identity change means after the commission of an act of severe interpersonal violence, such as homicide. Individual in-depth interviews with men who had taken a life were conducted, looking at the experience of living with and making sense of their offense. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and examined using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings identified two themes: “The Reformed Self-Identity” and “Factors that contribute to a Reformed Self-Identity”. The first theme examines the new reformed identity and the second theme explores the factors that have helped the participants to make sense of the trajectory of their experiences. This study reports on identity work as predominantly an intersubjective process, where the making of the self is influenced by their relations with others. Positive contextual influences (e.g., family support, engagement in therapy) in cultivating reconciliations in identity, meaning, and reflexive connections are vital aspects in informing meaning-based therapeutic interventions and rehabilitative aims (including risk reduction and accountability). The reduction in future risk, which links in with the relationship between social inclusion and self-regulation, reducing the need to compensate for shame and the implications of shifts in identity and meaning was another important point that emerged from this study. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of reflective spaces for perpetrators of homicide to engage with the impact of their index offenses, in order to be able to support a new identity and a new life with safe and accountable connections.

中文翻译：

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理解黑暗：犯下凶杀案的男子的身份研究

摘要重大的人际交往之后，身份发生了变化。但是，很少有关于在发生严重的人际暴力行为（例如杀人）之后改变身份的含义的研究。对丧生的男子进行了单独的深入访谈，考察了与他们同居并了解自己的罪行的经验。访谈逐字记录，并使用解释现象学分析（IPA）进行检查。调查结果确定了两个主题：“改革后的自我认同”和“促成改革后的自我认同的因素”。第一个主题探讨了改革后的新身份，第二个主题探讨了有助于参与者理解自己经历轨迹的因素。这项研究报告称身份工作主要是一个主体间的过程，在这个过程中，自我的形成受到他们与他人关系的影响。在认同，意义和反身联系的和解中，积极的情境影响（例如家庭支持，参与治疗）是告知基于意义的治疗干预和康复目标（包括降低风险和问责制）的重要方面。这项研究的另一个重要观点是，减少未来风险与社会包容与自我调节之间的关系有关，减少了补偿耻辱的必要性，以及身份和意义转变的影响。此外，