A Family Affair: The Effect of Criminal Justice Processing on Family Relationships

Abstract

Although the family plays a key role in affecting offender behavior, little research examines how sanctioning contexts affect familial relationships. Using data from the Australian reintegrative shaming experiments (RISE), we investigate how the processing of offenders via court and conference affects their bonds with family members by examining the type of shaming – reintegrative or disintegrative – they experience. In contrast to disintegrative or stigmatizing shaming, which tends to be associated with court processing, reintegrative shaming shames the act and not the moral character of the offender, allowing for the reparation of social ties. We find that despite higher levels of stigmatization in conferences, this form of processing is also more reintegrative and strengthens family relationships to a greater extent than courts, with offenders feeling prouder of being a member of their family and indicating that familial closeness and respect increased. Moreover, reintegrative but not disintegrative shaming mediates the relationship between criminal justice processing and family relationships.

Citation

Scheuerman, H.L. and Keith, S. (2022), "A Family Affair: The Effect of Criminal Justice Processing on Family Relationships", Maxwell, S.R. and Blair, S.L. (Ed.) The Justice System and the Family: Police, Courts, and Incarceration (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 20), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-353520220000020001