Braithwaite's Theory of Reintegrative Shaming - Disgracing an Offender without Stigmatizing - Literature review Example

Is it possible to shame an offender without stigmatizing? Discuss with reference to Braithwaites theory of reintegrative shaming. In the United Kingdom and around the world, jails are overcrowded. Accordingly, the British criminal justice system is backlogged and the Labour government in power was elected on new promises to crack down on crime and get tough with offenders. In spite of the fact that the climate may not be ideal for criminal justice reform in the UK, the time has come for British authorities as well as the Canadian public to realize that significant changes to the criminal justice system must occur in the name of justice and due process. While the United States of America boasts the highest incarceration rates on the planet, even higher than places such as China, Iran or Russia, the United Kingdom also has significant challenges housing, feeding, and rehabilitating all of the prisoners in its prisons nationwide. According to a report released by the Pew Center for Research on the United States, nearly one in 100 persons in the United States is incarcerated (Pew Center, 2008). While the UK has a smaller population than the United States, the statistics are no less that a staggering. Accordingly, Britains incarceration rate is 142 per 100,000 people. This is higher than China and most western European countries including that of Sweden which is 82 per 100,000 and France which has an incarceration rate of 85 per 1000 population. These numbers are important and must be understood if one hopes to tackle the issue of criminal justice reform and correctional policy reform in the 21st century Seeking to address the fundamental issues associated with an overcrowded prison system and to propose a means through which correctional policy reform can be undertaken in the British context, the following will explore offender shaming without stigmatizing. This will be discussed with reference to Braithwaites theory of reintegrative shaming (Tony, 2001). According to renowned criminal theorist John Braithwaite, stigmatization increases crime while reintegrative shaming leads to less crime. While the penal system in the United Kingdom and much of the Western world is based upon concepts of punishment and rehabilitation, Braithwaite argues that restorative justice can provide the answer to high rates of incarceration and recidivism. Arguing that restorative justice can be one of the means through which solutions to the UK’s correctional problems can be made, Braithwaite persuasively argues that it is possible to shame an offender without stigmatization. The way in which this is accomplished is through restorative justice, a revolutionary new perspective on criminal justice in the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the concepts of reintegration and shaming are integral to the restorative justice paradigm. Accordingly, restorative justice can be defined as a paradigm whose scope encompasses more than victim–offender mediation (VOM) and whose emphasis includes the needs of society and offenders as well as victims. Restorative justice involves a wide variety of processes and programs that are more apt to restore both those who commit and those who suffer wrongs. It includes children-at-risk programs, drug courts, violence-treatment programs, as well as victim–offender mediation programs. It also includes efforts to assist former convicts returning to the community to engage in constructive lifestyles and sustainable roles in families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. It is a paradigm that includes any program or approach that satisfies the following criteria:1) Offenders must acknowledge their wrongdoing, expressing remorse and apology. 2) Offenders must be accountable and accept responsibility for all harms or injury their actions have caused to themselves and others, and must be willing to take corrective or remedial action as well as make appropriate reparations to those they have harmed (Restorative Justice, 2009). It is fair to say that criminal justice policy in the Western world is influenced by ideas surrounding retribution and punishment. While rehabilitation certainly is a concept which has influenced criminal justice and penal development over the past hundred years, the focus of the UK, as well as most Western countries’, justice systems has been upon punishment. Restorative justice is a theory of justice which emphasizes the ability to repair the harm caused by criminal behavior by taking steps to repair such harm. Restorative justice involves all stakeholders in the restoration process and has a very important role for the community in responding to the crime committed. Accordingly, restorative justice is conceived of as a cooperative endeavor which includes both the victim and the perpetrator in an effort to make amends for the crime committed (2007). According to an international organization headed by John Braithwaite which seeks to promote restorative justice in UK and around the world, there are three principles which form the foundation for restorative justice: 1) Justice requires that we work to restore those who have been injured. 2) Those most directly involved and affected by crime should have the opportunity to participate fully in the response if they wish. 3) Governments role is to preserve a just public order, and the communitys is to build and maintain a just peace (Restorative Justice, 2009).  According to Brathwaite, the United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders recently passed a resolution to encourage restorative justice throughout the world. Restorative justice is a concept which is increasingly being utilized throughout the world and it moves away from punitive measures. Instead, it focuses on making amends for past crimes and restoring faith in the criminal justice process. Unlike in the traditional punitive criminal justice process, victims have an important opportunity to play in a restorative justice forum which encourages victims to encounter their offenders and expects the offenders to take steps to repair the harms which they have caused. Seeking to participate in the resolution of a particular crime which has been committed, restorative justice focuses on opportunities for victims, and offenders to meet and provide a solution to the crime which has been committed. Brathwaite reports that restorative justice can be a wide variety of programs aimed at addressing crime and punishment from a different perspective and also that “restorative justice has been quite effective in reducing criminal re-offence” thus it can directly lead to a decrease in crime. The scholar emphatically demonstrates that this sort of justice has been employed successfully with native communities in Canada, the United States and New Zealand and that it should be used globally (Brathwaite, 2007). As the above persuasively demonstrates, it is possible to shame an offender without stigmatization. Stigmitization of a criminal refers to the labeling of someone as a “criminal” which actually reinforces criminal behavior and leads to a subsequent increase in crimes. While shaming is a component of the restorative justice paradigm, it is not an end to itself and remains just a small part of reintegrative justice. Within the present criminal justice paradigm presently employed in the United Kingdom as well as in much of the Western world, the focus of criminal justice if on punishment, shaming and the labeling of criminals as such. Rehabilitation does fit into the equation but this is a relatively new concept within Western penal systems. Accordingly, shame certainly does play a role in the concept of restorative justice and reintegrative shaming and successfully be used to shame an offender without stigmatizing. Obtaining Support for Reintegrative Shaming Implementing reintegrative shaming within the criminal justice system would involve an overhaul of the basic precepts which remain fundamental to our conceptions of justice. There are a variety of means through which support can be obtained for this proposal. Conservatives can be appealed to through a discussion of the important costs associated with prison incarceration rates and the fact that Britain’s trend towards increased incarceration does not bode well for the fiscal policies of the conservatives in this country. Minority groups, as well as other socially progressive groups, should appreciate this policy as native groups are disproportionately represented within the British criminal justice system. With a focus on restitution and restoration as opposed to punishment, restorative justice has the ability to radically transform criminal justice system in the UK. Restorative justice focuses on restitution and the inclusion of the victim in the justice process. As a result, victim organizations should be particularly interested in participating in the restorative justice reform movement as it makes them direct participants in the criminal justice process (Zimring, 2007). Concluding Remarks Our prison system is in dire need of reform and as Webster and Doob demonstrate in their article on the penal harm movement, there is much interest in a reformation of the penal system. The UK has a higher incarceration rate than most Western European countries and more progressive policies are in order if Britain hopes to break away from the “current punitive paradigm” which is an important feature of the UK’s penal system. Certain groups are disproportionally represented within the criminal justice system and restorative justice can be one way through which Britain can seek to provide justice to victims while at the same time addressing the over incarceration rates as well as the fiscal concerns this country currently faces. Restorative justice is a dramatic new paradigm which seeks to completely transform our concepts of justice and the ways in which the criminal justice system in the Western world seeks redress for transgressions of the law. Shaming is a key component of the restorative justice paradigm and unlike within the present penal system, shaming is a important but not an all-inclusive concept. Thus, it is possible to shame an offender without stigmatizing and Braithwaites theory of reintegrative shaming provides an appropriate paradigm for the overhaul of the present penal system. Ideology is important here and it is essential that reintegrative shaming and restorative justice be employed as key components of penal reform in the UK and around the Western world. It would not make sense to continue along the path of the United States and Britain must revisit it its correctional justice system. Restorative justice can be the means through which the UK can overcome the legacy of prison overcrowding and the disproportionate incarceration rates of certain cultural groups (Webster & Doob, 2008). REFERENCES “1 in 100”. (2008). Pew Center for Research on the United State. Last Accessed January 18, 2010 http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf Braithwaite, J. (2007). Encourage Restorative Justice. New York : Columbia UP. “Facts and Statistics”. (2009). Criminal Justice.ca. Last January 18, 2010 http://www.vcn.bc.ca/august10/politics/facts_stats.html “What is Restorative Justice?”. (2009). RestorativeJustice.org. Last Accessed January 18, 2010 http://www.restorativejustice.org/university-classroom/01introduction Tonry, M.H. (2001). Penal reform in overcrowded times. London: Oxford University Press. Webster, C.M. & Doob, A.N. (2008). America in a Larger World. Criminology and Public Policy, 6(3), 473-483. Zimring, F.E. (2007). Protect Individual Punishment from Mandatory Penalties. Read More