NORMALIZATION AND LEGITIMATION: MODELING STIGMATIZING ATTITUDES TOWARD EX-OFFENDERS

Successful community reentry and the criminological impact of incarceration may depend in part on the attitudes (and consequent reactions) that prisoners encounter after release. Theories of social stigma suggest that such attitudes depend, in turn, on the levels of familiarity with the stigmatized...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Criminology (Beverly Hills) 2010-02, Vol.48 (1), p.27-55
Main Authors: HIRSCHFIELD, PAUL J., PIQUERO, ALEX R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Crime
Criminals
Criminology
ex-offenders
Imprisonment
incarceration
Multivariate analysis
Norms
Offenders
prejudice
Punishment Rehabilitation Relationship
punitiveness
Social Attitudes
Social Contact
Social control
Social Integration
Stigma
White people
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Summary:Successful community reentry and the criminological impact of incarceration may depend in part on the attitudes (and consequent reactions) that prisoners encounter after release. Theories of social stigma suggest that such attitudes depend, in turn, on the levels of familiarity with the stigmatized group (the normalization thesis) as well as on the credibility and trust they accord to sanctioning agents (the legitimation thesis). To assess these two hypotheses, we present the first multivariate analysis of public attitudes toward ex‐offenders. Data from a four‐state, random‐digit telephone survey of more than 2,000 individuals indicate that, net of controls, personal familiarity with ex‐offenders may soften attitudes, whereas confidence in the courts may harden them. As expected, non‐Hispanic Whites, conservatives, and southern residents hold more negative views of ex‐offenders. Our findings lend indirect support to concerns that incarceration is becoming “normalized”, and we suggest strategies for reducing the stigma of incarceration.
ISSN:0011-1384
1745-9125
DOI:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2010.00179.x