Content uploaded by Lawrence William Sherman
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Lawrence William Sherman on Jan 05, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.
Defiance, Deterrence, and Irrelevance: A Theory of the Criminal Sanction
Abstract
Increasing evidence shows great diversity in the effects of the criminal sanction. Legal punishment either reduces, increases, or has no effect on future crimes, depending on the type of offenders, offenses, social settings, and levels of analysis. A theory of “defiance” helps explain the conditions under which punishment increases crime. Procedural justice (fairness or legitimacy) of experienced punishment is essential for the acknowledgment of shame, which conditions deterrence; punishment perceived as unjust can lead to unacknowledged shame and defiant pride that increases future crime. Both “specific” defiance by individuals and “general” defiance by collectivities results from punishment perceived as unfair or excessive, unless deterrent effects counterbalance defiance and render the net effect of sanctions irrelevant. By implication, crime might be reduced more by police and courts treating all citizens with fairness and respect than by increasing punishments. A variety of research designs can be used to test, refine, or reject the theory.
... Thus, the SPC or SPF focuses on incidents and stimuli or antecedents of contemplated illegal behaviour such as illegal hunting [21]. The fourth theory is the Defiance Theory (DT) which holds that 'sanctions perceived as unfair by way of harsh and disrespectful treatment from the sanctioning agent or by lack of procedural fairness will result in a delegitimisation of authorities and furtherance of crime' [7,22]. The prediction based on the DT is that environmental harm, which includes illegal hunting will increase (or persist) as the legitimacy of conservation policies, tactics and authority decline [23]. ...
... The two drivers of illegal hunting and illegal hunting levels were predictors with positive effect on the likelihood of high persistence of illegal hunting whereas one intervention with satisfactory performance rating had a negative effect. 22 ...
... Based on the evidence provided in this study, we postulate that in communities that surround or are adjacent to protected areas in the Luangwa Valley and elsewhere, (persistent) illegal hunting behaviour is a result of interactions of behavioural intentions to hunt illegally from local beliefs (behavioural, normative and perceived control) with prevalent drivers of illegal hunting and motivations for defiance. This postulation takes into consideration of possible dynamics in the prevalent drivers of illegal hunting and motivations for defiance and is based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour [24][25][26]64] and Defiance Theory [7,22,23]. Further, if there are prevalent drivers of illegal hunting in an area it implies that intervention measures for addressing them are ineffective. 31 In the study, the behavioural intentions to hunt illegally were influenced by beliefs (behavioural, normative and control) that were related to the prevalent drivers of illegal hunting and motivations for defiance. ...
Decades of illegal hunting (poaching) have adversely affected wildlife populations and thereby limited sustainable wildlife conservation in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Despite intervention efforts to address the problem, illegal hunting of wildlife has persisted. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the persistence of illegal hunting by investigating drivers of poaching and intervention measures using mixed-methods approach. Stratified random sampling was used to collect data from 346 respondents through structured questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to collect data through nine (9) focus group discussions and three (3) in-depth interviews with experts. The study revealed that persistent illegal hunting was mainly driven by people’s critical needs for survival and sustaining livelihoods and not by inadequate law enforcement as presumed by resource managers. Although law enforcement was the most prevalent intervention measure, it did not deter local illegal hunters because the main motivations for poaching were not effectively addressed. The key implication of findings is that where illegal harvesting of natural resources in protected areas by local resource users is driven by people’s critical needs for survival and livelihoods which are ineffectively addressed, illegal harvesting may persist even with increased law enforcement. The study provides empirical evidence, novel conceptual knowledge and understanding on how prevalent drivers of poaching and other factors may have influenced persistent illegal hunting in the Luangwa Valley.
... More emphasis during therapy sessions should be given to strengthening existing normative social networks. These networks have the potential to draw people away from stigma and help them to rejoin normative society, as suggested by the concept of reintegrative shaming (Braithwaite, 1989), while minimizing the potential harm of defiance due to disintegrative shaming (Bouffard and Piquero, 2010;Sherman, 1993). Nevertheless, it seems that the IPRA program already provides an effective therapeutic balance while fulfilling employment needs. ...
For many released prisoners, the period following release is characterized by extreme challenges. The ability to overcome such challenges depends on the services, level of supervision, and type of support available. One type of support offered by the Israeli Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Authority provides a supervisory and rehabilitative framework for reintegration after release from imprisonment, with an emphasis on employment. The present study examines the subjective experiences of ex-prisoners on their journey from incarceration through reentry and reintegration while participating in supervision, treatment, and employment intervention operated by the Israeli Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Authority. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of released prisoners who successfully completed Israeli Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Authority supervision. The interviews reveal four main themes that in turn identify pathways to “better lives” through the reintegration process.
... Treatment services in the GLM emphasise the need for a balance between the approach goal of promoting individual goods and the avoidance goal of reducing risk. Ward and colleagues (Maruna et al., 2004;Sherman, 1993;Ward & Maruna, 2007) point out that merely pursuing an increase in the well-being of prisoners and probationers may engender happiness but also dangerous tendencies in individuals; in contrast, solely addressing risk management can result in punitive practices and engender apathetic clients. Hence, a collaborative assessment approach is necessary. ...
Offender rehabilitation is of public and political importance in Japan. The Good Lives Model (GLM) and risk need responsivity (RNR) are the most influential frameworks used to support offender rehabilitation. However, the GLM has had a negligible impact on practice in Japan despite its importance being broadly understood. We conducted this preliminary study using two surveys—one with 133 inmates and one with 133 members of the general public—to assess the GLM’s applicability in Japan. The following questions were used with both groups: To what extent do the Japanese people pursue primary human goods (PHGs), and how does that differ between the general population and prison inmates? Has attaining PHGs been more difficult for prison inmates compared to the general population? The responses were analysed after adjusting for demographic data. The findings indicate that (1) in Japan, both inmates and the general public pursued PHGs, although the importance of all PHGs was significantly higher for inmates; (2) prison inmates had significantly greater difficulty than the general public in attaining certain PHGs in the past; and (3) the importance of future PHGs was significantly higher for all PHGs for inmates than for the general public. These results suggested that the premise of the GLM is relevant in Japan.
... Deterrence theory offers a promising framework for comprehending the effectiveness of regulatory schemes in medical insurance. It encompasses the elements of severity, certainty, and celerity [12] , suggesting that these three dimensions play a crucial role in deterring medical insurance fraud and abuse [13,14] . Applying deterrence theory to analyze medical insurance regulatory systems enables the gathering of comprehensive information, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of these systems. ...
Background: To effectively improve the regulatory systems of medical insurance, a deep dive into their impact on enrollees is essential. The challenge lies in comprehensively and quantitatively assessing these effects, amidst a noticeable research gap in evaluating regulatory impacts within the medical insurance domain. This study aimed to develop a conceptual framework based on deterrence theory to assess the effects of medical insurance regulations on deterring medical insurance fraud and abuse (MIFA) among enrollees, focusing on Shanghai as a case study.
Methods: This study integrated data for analysis from three distinct sources and used mixed methods. The Database of Medical Insurance Supervision on Enrollees (DMISE), spanning 2017 to 2021, provided a foundational analysis of the system's implementation. We utilized a multistage stratified sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey to gauge enrollees' perceptions of deterrence, employing the Enrollees' Perceived Deterrence Scale (EPDS), developed for this study. Semi-structured interviews with key informants offered deeper insights into the regulatory systems. Our evaluation was guided by a conceptual framework that identified three key dimensions of deterrence: severity, certainty, and celerity.
Results: Our study analyzed 12,898 historical fraud and abuse cases, involving 10,723 enrollees, alongside 965 valid questionnaires. It revealed that the medical insurance regulatory system in Shanghai exerted a high level of deterrence. Enrollees rated the perceived severity of the regulatory system as the highest. Although administrative sanctions were the primary measures, and were effective, there is a need for greater intensity and precision in their application. The certainty of detection was high, at approximately 80–90%. Whilst some covert activities remained difficult to detect, the certainty of enforcement was approximately 99%. Celerity received the lowest scores, indicating delays in both detection and penalty imposition within the regulatory response.
Conclusion: The study developed a theoretical analytical framework to assess the effectiveness of deterrence within medical insurance regulatory systems. It identified both the strengths and weaknesses of severity, certainty, and celerity in the current regulatory system, providing valuable insights for enhancing deterrence. These findings offer important guidance for policymakers to strengthen regulatory schemes against MIFA, contributing to the advancement of more effective healthcare policies.
This is the protocol for a Campbell systematic review. The objectives are as follows. The primary aim of this mixed methods review is to synthesise the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of restorative justice interventions (RJIs) for reducing offending and reoffending outcomes in children and young people. We are also particularly interested in the impact of RJIs on children and young peoples' violent offending and violent reoffending. A second aim of the review is to examine whether the magnitude of effectiveness of RJIs may be influenced by study characteristics such as the population (e.g., age, ethnicity, or sex), the form of intervention (e.g., face‐to‐face mediation compared to family group conferencing), the place of delivery of the intervention (e.g., in independent office, in court), implementation (e.g., trained facilitators, dose, fidelity) and methodology (e.g., randomised controlled trial). The third aim of the review is to synthesise the qualitative evidence about RJ to develop a better contextual understanding of how these programmes may work and to elucidate factors that might increase the efficacy and implementation of RJ interventions. The specific research questions this systematic review aims to address are: (1) Do RJ interventions reduce children and young people's involvement in offending or reoffending relative to a comparison group? [RQ1]. (2) Is there variation in the impact of different RJ approaches on young people's involvement in offending or reoffending? [RQ2]. (3) Is there variation in the impact of RJIs on children and young people's offending or reoffending depending on the characteristics of the participants taking part in the RJI (e.g., sex, age, ethnicity)? [RQ3]. (4) What characteristics of RJIs, influence the effectiveness of RJIs for children and young people's offending and reoffending? [RQ4]. (5) What are the most notable barriers and facilitators, as reported by participants (e.g., the victims, children/young people, or mediators who have taken part in an evaluation of an RJI, or those children or young people who were meant to take part in an evaluation but ultimately did not), to the implementation of RJIs to reduce later offending or reoffending? [RQ5].
A sense of obligation to obey the police is an important predictor of public cooperation and compliance with the law. Minorities tend to feel less obligated to obey the police than the majority. Previous work based on the social resistance framework shows that the experiences that shape the lives and attitudes of minorities may encourage them to actively engage in a variety of everyday resistance acts against the majority group, which may include high-risk and delinquent behaviours. The present study tests this framework for the first time concerning the self-perceived obligation to obey the police while also considering different minority groups who experience varying levels of marginalization. We use a representative sample of about 1,100 Israelis from four minority groups – Muslims, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, ultra-Orthodox Jews and Jews of Ethiopian origin – along with the Jewish majority group. The results show that Muslims feel the least obligation to obey the police, followed by Jews of Ethiopian origin. Social resistance was negatively related to the self-perceived obligation to obey the police among Muslims and ultra-Orthodox Jews while controlling for demographic characteristics and previous theoretical explanations, namely procedural justice, self-help and anger.
Facebook groups and pages exist that expose the locations of roadside drug testing, potentially undermining police enforcement and enabling punishment avoidance. This study aimed to understand how and why these sites are used, with a focus on Queensland motorists who reported using illicit drugs and/or medical cannabis and used Facebook police location communities. Interviews with 30 participants were conducted. A thematic analysis revealed that participants used police location communities to avoid receiving a charge for driving under the influence of drugs. Upon observation of a relevant roadside drug-testing location on police location communities, participants reported (a) delaying their driving and/or (b) circumventing the operation. Avoidance of roadside drug-testing locations appeared driven by the perception that laws for driving under the influence of drugs were unfair and that a charge for driving under the influence of drugs would negatively impact their life. The findings provide important knowledge regarding police location communities and have implications for how roadside drug testing could be most effectively operated.
This chapter delves into the emergence of restorative justice in the 1960s, rooted in the conflict resolution methods of indigenous communities in the United States and Canada. Contrasting sharply with traditional criminal justice, restorative justice places disputing parties at the forefront, enabling offenders to confess their guilt directly to victims through dialogue, aiming to repair harm and achieve satisfaction and social reintegration. This chapter illuminates restorative justice's concept, origins, characteristics, principles, and differences from conventional justice. It explores victim-offender mediation, highlighting its advantages, and examines restorative justice practices in Egypt, including the criminal reconciliation system and police mediation. This chapter raises key questions about these practices and their application in the Arab context, offering insights into a field yet to gain widespread recognition in the region. Employing an analytical descriptive approach, it relies on legal references to deepen understanding and development.
The criminality of crime is defined by law, and therefore falls within the jurisdiction of a completely different theory. This chapter discusses the struggle between law and self-help, the deterrence of crime, the processing of self-help by legal officials, and the problem of predicting and explaining self-help. The approach taken in the chapter departs radically from traditional criminology. Indeed, the approach taken is not criminological at all, because it ignores the characteristics of crime as such. Instead, it draws attention to a dimension of many crimes usually viewed as a totally different—even opposite— kind of human behavior, namely, social control. Crime often expresses a grievance. This implies that many crimes belong to the same family as gossip, ridicule, vengeance, punishment, and law. It also implies that to a significant degree one can predict and explain crime with a sociological theory of social control, specifically a theory of self-help. Beyond this, it might be worthwhile to contemplate what else crime has in common with noncriminal conduct.
An experiment has been carried out in the Dutch public transport system to tackle fare-dodging, vandalism, and aggression. On the tram and metro system the level of inspection has been increased by employing about 1,200 young people. On buses the boarding procedure has been changed. The results show that the percentage of fare-dodgers fell after the introduction of the measures. The number of incidents decreased during the project; feelings of insecurity did not decrease. Damage experts, passengers, and staff agree that the measures put a halt to the increasing trend in vandalism. Given costs and benefits, the measures made an important contribution to cutting petty crime on public transport and thereby improved the quality of service. © 1989 The Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency.
Using data on police contacts for a cohort of males born in 1949 and followed until age 25, this paper examines the influence of arrest on future criminal activity. Two questions are examined. Does arrest amplify or deter the future criminal activity of those arrested? Does the influence of being arrested on future offending vary by where arrest occurs in the sequence of police contacts: for example, does being arrested have more influence on the future criminal activity of novice or experienced offenders? Drawing on the "criminal career" perspective, we partition future offending into distinct components, such as rate of future offending, duration of a criminally active period, and desistence from future offending. Evidence emerges that is more consistent with a specific deterrence position than a labeling perspective.
Experimental research has recently shown a powerful impact on legal policy. An experiment demonstrating a deterrent effect of arrest on domestic violence has shaped public policy. Stimulated by efforts to publicize the results of the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (Sherman and Berk, 1984a), police departments were persuaded to adopt an arrest policy for misdemeanor domestic violence. Over one-third of respondents from U.S. police departments in 117 cities said their policy had been influenced by the experiment, although respondents from some departments that adopted an arrest policy did not recognize the experiment or its results. Lempert (1987, 1984), citing medical research as precedent, suggests that this impact is premature and inappropriate until replications are completed. However, we find no indication that medical research employs a standard of delaying adoption of research results prior to replication. Our analysis suggests that publicity can encourage replication of legal research at other sites and thus improve the knowledge base for policy recommendations.
We propose that significant others and conscience function as agents of social control in a manner similar to the State. All three pose possible threats or costs that are more or less certain and severe which actors take into account in considering whether or not to violate the law. State-imposed costs, which have been addressed in the literature on deterrence, are material deprivations in the form of fines and incarceration. Socially imposed costs are the embarrassment or loss of respect actors might experience when they violate norms which significant others support. Self-imposed costs are shame or guilt feelings which actors might impose upon themselves when they offend their own conscience by engaging in behaviors they consider morally wrong. The threats of shame and embarrassment, like the threat of legal sanctions, affect the expected utility of crime and, thus, the likelihood that crime will occur. In the research reported here, parallel measures are developed of the perceived threats of each of these three kinds of punishment for three illegal behaviors (tax cheating, petty theft, drunk driving). The effects of these perceived threats on people's intentions to violate the law are then examined in a random sample of adults. Threats of shame and of legal sanctions inhibit the inclination to commit each of the three offenses, but the findings for embarrassment appear less compatible with the expected utility model.
Does referring a case to juvenile court or diverting it affect a person's future delinquent/criminal behavior? Labeling theory suggests that it does, arguing that formal processing by the juvenile justice system is part of a deviance amplification process that ultimately results in increased criminal/delinquent activity. But critics point out that a higher rate of future offending among those referred to court, often interpreted as evidence supporting the deviance amplification argument, could be nothing more than a selection artifact. Specifically, those referred to juvenile court may have more attributes that are related to future offending than do those who are diverted from the system. Under this scenario, differences between these groups in later offending could simply reflect preexisting differences in criminal propensity. This article discusses approaches for testing the deviance amplification argument against the alternative hypothesis of a selection artifact.
We examine the deterrent effect of arrest in incidents of spouse abuse. The data are from field experiments conducted in four cities--Milwaukee, Omaha, Dade County (Florida), and Colorado Springs. On the average, arrest is no more effective than other police interventions in reducing new incidents of violence. However, arrest has differential effects on subsequent violence depending on the background of the offender. The implications of the findings for social science theory and public policy are discussed.