An Intervention to Repair the Stigma of Formerly Incarcerated People in a College Setting

• In Event: Stigma Toward People with Criminal Records: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences

Abstract

Formerly incarcerated people face a well known stigma that hampers reintegration. We develop and test an intervention based on narrative humanization–first person narratives shared by members of a stigmatized group that seek to repair their image–and examine its effects on stigma against people who have spent time in prison. A vignette-based survey experiment using a crowdsourced sample of college students finds that when a fictional classmate discloses their time in prison, their autobiographical poetry alleviates exclusionary stigma against them. Mediation analyses show specifically that desired social distance falls primarily because the poetry intervention compensates for low interpersonal warmth (e.g., sincerity, trustworthiness, friendliness, etc.) attributed to formerly incarcerated individuals. Analyses show that while the poetry intervention repairs the stigma of a prison stay for an individual, the poetry does not generalize to improve perceptions of other people who have spent time in prison. The findings suggest actions that signal interpersonal warmth are a viable survival strategy for mitigating the stigma of an incarceration record.

Authors

• Jon Overton, Kent State University

• Michelle D. Fretwell, Kent State University

• Kevin Weng, Meredith College

• Christopher P. Dum, Kent State University