CONDITIONS OF SUCCESSFUL REINTEGRATION CEREMONIES: Dealing with Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

Shifting criminal justice practices away from sligmalization and toward rcintegration is no small challenge. The innovation of community conferences in New ZealandThe spectre of failure haunts modern criminology and penology. Deep down many feel what some say openly-that 'nothing works': that despite decades of study and debate, we are no nearer deterrence than we ever were and/or that more 'humane' forms of treatment are mere masquerades concealing a descent into Kafaesque bureaucracy where offenders suffer a slow and silent suffocation of the soul. Worse still, we fear that even when something does work, it is seen to do so only in the eyes of certain professionals, while 'outside' the system ordinary citizens are left without a role or voice in the criminal justice process. This paper takes a different view. Rejecting the pessimism that pervades discussions about crime and punishment, it offers an optimistic view of at least one area-the punishment of juvenile offenders. It argues that it is possible to develop practices that 'work'-both in the sense of reducing recidivism and reintegrating offenders into a wider web of community ties and support and, at the same time, in giving victims a 'voice' in a fashion that is both satisfying and also socially productive. Further, it links a theory (reintegrative shaming) and a practice (the reintegration ceremony) which explain how to understand and how to implement this success.While there are elements that are quite distinctive about both the theory and practice of reintegrative shaming, there is also a great deal in common with the theory and practice of 'making amends' (Wright 1982); restorative justice (Cragg 1992;Galaway and Hudson 1990;Zehr 1990); reconciliation (Dignan 1992;Marshall 1985;Umbreit 1985); peacemaking (Pepinsky and Quinney 1991); redress (de Haan 1990) and feminist abolitionism (Meima 1990). We differ from abolitionists, however, in believing that it is right to shame certain kinds of conduct as criminal in certain contexts.The rest of the paper has two sections. The second section outlines some fieldwork * Division of Philosophy and Law, The Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University. We would like to thank John McDonald, Gabrielle Maxwell, David Moore, Jane Mugford, Terry O'Connell, and Clifford Shearing for the stimulation and critique they provided in developing the ideas in this paper. JOHN BRAITHWAITE AND STEPHEN MUGFORDwhich we have undertaken to examine such ceremonies, makes a relatively brief series of arguments which connect the theory of reintegrative shaming to the seminal paper by Garfinkel on degradation ceremonies and outlines how the latter must be transformed to cover reintegration ceremonies. The major point of this section is a specification of the conditions for successful reintegration ceremonies. The third and longer section follows the logic of such ceremonies, illustrating each point with material derived from the fieldwork and offering comments about policy and implementation.

Interventions to Reduce School Bullying

“…Community conferencing was developed by Transformative Justice Australia (TJA) and has been extended elsewhere (28). This strategy brings together a community of people in conflict, such as that occurring in school bullying (29).…”

Myths of restorative features in the Japanese justice system and society: the role of apology, compensation and confession, and application of reintegrative shaming

“…According to him, reintegrative shaming, which respects offenders' human values while condemning the wrongdoing, can be more effective in dealing with crime than can stigmatising shaming, which labels offenders as deviants. Braithwaite argued that Japan enjoys a low crime rate because it practices reintegrative shaming (Braithwaite, 1989;Braithwaite & Mugford, 1994). Braithwaite (1989: 63) argued that in the Japanese shame culture 'when an individual is shamed in Japan [due to offence], the shame is often borne by the collectivity to which the individual belongs as well -the family, the company, the school -particularly by the titular head of the collectivity'.…”

Myths of restorative features in the Japanese justice system and society: the role of apology, compensation and confession, and application of reintegrative shaming

“…Braithwaite argued that Japan enjoys a low crime rate because it practices reintegrative shaming (Braithwaite, 1989;Braithwaite & Mugford, 1994). Braithwaite (1989: 63) argued that in the Japanese shame culture 'when an individual is shamed in Japan [due to offence], the shame is often borne by the collectivity to which the individual belongs as well -the family, the company, the school -particularly by the titular head of the collectivity'.…”