The Effectiveness of Reintegrative Shaming Theory within the Mechanisms of Secondary Deviance

Presenter Information

Scott Perkins

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

SURC 137A

Start Date

16-5-2013

End Date

16-5-2013

Abstract

Reducing recidivism has been a major goal for researchers and practitioners in the field of criminology and criminal justice. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported 272,111 prisoners were released in 1994, and 67.5 percent of them were rearrested within three years of their release. In 2007, 1,180,469 parolees were considered at-risk for reoffending, and of them, 16 percent were eventually re-incarcerated within one year of release. A variety of theories have tried to address crime and recidivism. Major theories such as Rational Choice/Deterrence Theories, Strain Theory, and Control Theory have been utilized to explain crime and subsequent recidivism. However, these theories do not always make the distinction between crime and recidivism. This limits these theories in how they can address recidivism. Reintegrative Shaming Theory (RST), developed by John Braithwaite, is one crime reduction approach that has become quite popular in the past several years. However, the state of the empirical support is currently being investigated. Therefore, conclusions at this time cannot be said with a large amount of certainty. Recent studies have shown certain aspects work within the theory, but there is no primary governing study that substantially shows that the theory is effective. In general, the results are mixed, thus results are inconsistent from study to study. Many studies have tried to address the issues surrounding recidivism by using RST. In order to address these issues, this thesis will exhaustively review the current literature on the subject to allow the ability to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the theory.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Cody Stoddard

Additional Mentoring Department

Law and Justice

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The Effectiveness of Reintegrative Shaming Theory within the Mechanisms of Secondary Deviance

SURC 137A

Reducing recidivism has been a major goal for researchers and practitioners in the field of criminology and criminal justice. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported 272,111 prisoners were released in 1994, and 67.5 percent of them were rearrested within three years of their release. In 2007, 1,180,469 parolees were considered at-risk for reoffending, and of them, 16 percent were eventually re-incarcerated within one year of release. A variety of theories have tried to address crime and recidivism. Major theories such as Rational Choice/Deterrence Theories, Strain Theory, and Control Theory have been utilized to explain crime and subsequent recidivism. However, these theories do not always make the distinction between crime and recidivism. This limits these theories in how they can address recidivism. Reintegrative Shaming Theory (RST), developed by John Braithwaite, is one crime reduction approach that has become quite popular in the past several years. However, the state of the empirical support is currently being investigated. Therefore, conclusions at this time cannot be said with a large amount of certainty. Recent studies have shown certain aspects work within the theory, but there is no primary governing study that substantially shows that the theory is effective. In general, the results are mixed, thus results are inconsistent from study to study. Many studies have tried to address the issues surrounding recidivism by using RST. In order to address these issues, this thesis will exhaustively review the current literature on the subject to allow the ability to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the theory.