Understanding Criminal Identity and Projected Conformity in Courts and Restorative Justice Conferences: An Identity Approach

• In Event: 123 - Section on Social Psychology Refereed Roundtable Session (co-sponsored with Section on Sociology of Emotions and Section on Sociology of Mental Health).
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 08. Identity/Identity Work

Abstract

Research indicates that mismatches between individuals’ identity standards and how they perceive others view them, or reflected appraisals, produce distress that individuals may attempt to alleviate by altering their behavior so as to achieve identity verification. While there has been a renewed interest in understanding how individuals negotiate a criminal identity, the implications the verification process has for criminal justice processing has been under researched. We assess how discrepancies between one’s criminal self-view and reflected appraisals affect negative emotions and projected conformity after individuals participate in either a restorative justice conference or a traditional court hearing. Using a sample of 498 restorative justice and 475 court participants in the Australian Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE), we find that discrepancies between criminal identities and reflected appraisals affect the amount of distress experienced by offenders and their projected conformity.

Authors

• Shelley Keith, Mississippi State University

• Heather L. Scheuerman, James Madison University