NCJ Number
146015
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 30 Issue: 4 Dated: (November 1993) Pages: 445-473
Date Published
1993
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Increasingly, evidence shows that criminal sanctions have diverse effects.
Abstract
The effect of sanctions on future criminality-- reduction, increase, or nothing--depends on the type of offender, type of offense, social setting, and level of analysis. Studies have shown that results may conflict across general and specific levels of analysis--that is, sanctions may achieve general compliance from the community but simultaneously lose the specific compliance of the sanctioned. Some suggest that white-collar crimes are more deterrable than street crimes. A "defiance" theory defines the conditions in which criminal sanctions stimulate false pride and increase future crime--the criminal: 1) perceives the sanction as unfair, and stigmatizing of the person, not the law-breaking act; 2) is poorly bonded to or alienated from the sanctioning agent or the community which that agent represents; and 3) refuses to acknowledge the shame that the sanction has actually caused. Sanctions may have a deterrent effect if the offender is well bonded or acknowledges shame. These principles operate in individuals and in collective entities. Increasing fairness rather than punishment would do more to reduce crime. 2 figures, 7 endnotes, and 87 references