Desistance as a Signal of Rehabilitation: Understanding Public Perception and the Moderating Role of Redeemability

• In Event: Public Opinion about Felony Stigma, Redeemability, and Returning Citizens’ Reentry Process

Abstract

Purpose - The criminal offender label is enduring and comes with significant real-world consequences. While there is a wealth of literature on offender rehabilitation, less emphasis has been placed on the varying ways that individuals define this concept. The goal of this study is to understand how variations in both punitiveness and rehabilitative definitions affect general beliefs about desistance from crime. Additionally, belief in redeemability is examined as a moderator of this relationship.

Methods - Using data from an anonymous, national-level, opt-in survey collected through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform, I test three hypotheses using logistic regression.

Findings - Results indicate that while increased punitiveness is not a significant predictor of belief in desistance signals, certain rehabilitative definitions are positively and significantly associated with belief in desistance signals. Redeemability does not moderate this relationship.

Conclusions - Individuals are more likely to believe in desistance signals if an offender’s rehabilitation consists of certain actions. Thus, certain rehabilitative acts increase the likelihood of individuals being willing to remove the criminal label from former offenders, which holds important policy implications.

Author

• Jasmyn Stevens, Georgia Southern University