Exploring the sanction–crime relationship through a lens of procedural justice
Introduction
Current criminological theories propose competing processes regarding the relationship between legal sanctions with the criminal justice system and subsequent criminal behavior. Specific deterrence theory claims that sanctions should lead to a reduction in criminal offending, whereas labeling theory suggests that these same sanctions should amplify subsequent criminal behavior. It is also possible that these experiences have no effect on later offending and neither of these two theories on their own adequately explains the relationship between sanctions and ensuing criminal behavior (Huizinga & Henry, 2008, p. 221; see also Sherman, 1993). This conundrum led leading scholars of both deterrence and labeling theory to suggest that the sanction–crime relationship is not invariant across subgroups or contexts (Nagin, 1998, Paternoster, 1987, Paternoster and Iovanni, 1989). By in large, the majority of research on the sanction–crime relationship draws attention to the potential import of who the offender is and what resources he or she has in the study of the sanction–crime relationship (e.g., Bernburg and Krohn, 2003, Chiricos et al., 2007, DeJong, 1997), and there is a dearth of research that focuses explicitly on how the context of the sanction may condition the sanction–crime relationship (Barrick, 2014, Nagin, 2013, Piquero et al., 2011). This is an important omission in the study of the effects of sanctions on subsequent criminal behavior because extant theory (i.e., defiance theory) anticipates that the quality of treatment by police and courts during interactions with the criminal justice system is critical to understanding whether sanctions will deter, promote (i.e., deviance amplification), or have no effect on subsequent criminal behavior (Sherman, 1993, Sherman, 2014). Further, several recent high profile events (e.g., the death of Freddie Gray) catapulted the nature and consequences of interactions between criminal justice system professionals and citizens to a pressing issue of our time-procedural fairness.
In order to better understand why sanctions may curb or promote subsequent criminal behavior, if they have any effect at all, we argue that more attention must be given to the perceived quality of interactions with legal authorities who administer sanctions. The focus on the importance of the nature of contacts with the criminal justice system is not new (see Braithwaite, 1989, Sherman, 1993). The procedural justice doctrine, largely based on the work of Tyler's (1990) study of compliant behavior, specifically draws attention to the importance of individual evaluations of fairness or procedural justice during interactions with legal authorities; specifically, interactions that are perceived as procedurally just promote cooperative behaviors, including compliance with the law. Although literature examining the significance of procedural justice focuses primarily on the direct effect of procedural justice on noncompliance with the law (e.g., criminal behavior) and its indirect effect through perceptions of legitimacy (e.g., Fagan and Piquero, 2007, Fagan and Tyler, 2005, Mazerolle et al., 2012, Paternoster et al., 1997, Reisig et al., 2014, Tyler, 1990, Tyler and Huo, 2002), its arguments regarding why the nature of contacts with agents of the criminal justice system promote or inhibit offending complement theoretical efforts to understand the consequences of sanctions on subsequent criminal behavior (Sherman, 1993, Sherman, 2014).
The focus of this work is to further understand the conditions under which legal sanctions affect subsequent criminal behavior. Building upon the procedural justice doctrine (Tyler, 1990, Tyler and Huo, 2002) and essential elements of defiance theory (Sherman, 1993, Sherman, 2014) in order to highlight how procedural justice can add to our understanding of how and why sanctions may have variable effects across individuals, we empirically examine whether procedural justice moderates the effect of legal sanctions in the form of involuntary contacts with the criminal justice system on various indicators of subsequent offending behavior. In doing so, this work continues to unpack the heterogeneity in the effects of sanctions on subsequent criminal behavior and further highlights the importance of the sanctioning experience and evaluations of procedural justice in the study of offending.
Section snippets
The effects of sanctions on criminal behavior
Legal sanctions do not have the same effect on subsequent offending behavior across individuals (Huizinga and Henry, 2008, Nagin, 2013, Nagin et al., 2009, Paternoster and Iovanni, 1989, Sampson and Laub, 1997). Two theoretical perspectives are used to explain these varying effects. Labeling theory suggests that legal sanctions promote subsequent criminal behavior (Lemert, 1951, Paternoster and Iovanni, 1989) through the alteration of one's identity, enhancement of deviant peer networks, and
Procedural justice and the sanction–crime relationship
The procedural justice doctrine is based largely upon the work of Tyler (1990) and colleagues who argue that evaluations of how decisions are made in terms of procedural justice are more important than evaluations of distributive justice (fairness of outcomes) in decision acceptance and subsequent cooperative behaviors (Fagan and Tyler, 2005, Sunshine and Tyler, 2003, Tyler, 1990, Tyler and Huo, 2002). Importantly, procedural justice refers to the fair and ethical treatment of individuals by
Current research
The current study addresses the call for research to disentangle the differential effects of legal sanctions on subsequent offending behavior and focuses on how the perceived nature of sanctioning experiences may condition the sanction–crime relationship. Using the procedural justice doctrine and key aspects of Sherman's (1993) theory of defiance as guiding frameworks, we test whether evaluations of procedural justice condition the effect of a legal sanction on subsequent offending behavior
Data
Our data come from a sample of adolescent offenders who participated in the Pathways to Desistance Study, a prospective longitudinal investigation of adolescent attitudes and behaviors. All data were obtained through ICPSR (ICPSR 29961 and ICPSR 34605). Study participants were juveniles charged with or adjudicated/convicted of a serious offense (mostly felonies) in the juvenile or criminal court systems in Philadelphia, PA, and Maricopa County, AZ. The Pathways to Desistance Study consists of
Results
Prior to testing our hypotheses, we estimated three generalized linear regression models to summarize the partial main effects of legal sanctions and judgments of procedural justice on the offending outcomes. Although not presented,11 the results of these models indicate that, net of control variables, experiencing a legal sanction has a significant main effect on
Discussion and conclusion
There is a growing recognition of the importance of procedural justice in both scholarship and policy. With respect to scholarship, the focus on procedural justice and its relationship to cooperative behavior (i.e., compliance with authority directives, empowerment and support of authorities, and compliance with the law) is pervasive throughout the criminological discourse. Furthermore, international leaders are investing attention and resources into the promise of procedural justice,
References (76)
- et al.
A relational model of authority in groups
- et al.
Testing a Bayesian learning theory of deterrence among serious juvenile offenders*
Criminology
(2011) The (ir)relevance of procedural justice in the pathways to crime
Law and Human Behavior
(2015)A review of prior tests of labeling theory
- et al.
The deterrent effect of arrest in incidents of domestic violence: A Bayesian analysis of four field experiments
American Sociological Review
(1992) State reaction, life outcomes, and structural disadvantage: A panel study of the impact of formal criminal labeling on the transition to adulthood
(2003)Labeling theory
- et al.
Labeling, life chances, and adult crime: The direct and indirect effects of official intervention in adolescence on crime in early adulthood
Criminology
(2003) - et al.
Testing and extending the group engagement model: linkages between social identity, procedural justice, economic outcomes, and extrarole behavior
Journal of Applied Psychology
(2009) - et al.
Defiance theory and life course explanations of persistent offending
Crime & Delinquency
(2010)
Crime, shame and reintegration
Procedural justice in felony cases
Law and Society Review
The labeling of convicted felons and its consequences for recidivism
Criminology
Specific deterrence and survival analysis: Integrating theoretical and empirical models of recidivism
Criminology
Serious violent offenders: Onset, developmental course, and termination
Criminology
Multiple problem youth: Delinquency, substance use, and mental health problems
Rational choice and developmental influences on recidivism among adolescent felony offenders
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies
Legal socialization of children and adolescents
Social Justice Research
The measurement and structure of psychosocial maturity
Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach
Commentary on the indiscriminate state of social class measurement
Social Forces
The effect of arrest and justice system sanctions on subsequent behavior: Findings from longitudinal and other studies
Are there multiple paths to delinquency?
The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
The conditional impact of official labeling on subsequent delinquency: Considering the role of family attachment
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
Labeling theory and delinquency policy: An experimental test
Criminal Justice and Behavior
Effects of police intervention on later offending
Social pathology: A systematic approach to the theory of sociopathic behavior
What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships
Labeling and cumulative disadvantage: The impact of formal police intervention on life chances and crime during emerging adulthood
Crime & Delinquency
Differential deterrence studying heterogeneity and changes in perceptual deterrence among serious youthful offenders
Crime & Delinquency
Procedural justice, routine encounters and citizen perceptions of police: Main findings from the Queensland Community Engagement Trial (QCET)
Journal of Experimental Criminology
For whom do sanctions deter and label?
Justice Quarterly
Theory and research on desistance from antisocial activity among serious adolescent offenders
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
Criminal deterrence research at the outset of the twenty-first century
Crime and Justice
Deterrence in the twenty-first century
Crime and Justice
Integrating celerity, impulsivity, and extralegal sanction threats into a model of general deterrence: Theory and evidence
Criminology
Imprisonment and reoffending
Crime and Justice
The deterrent effect of the perceived certainty and severity of punishment: A review of the evidence and issues
Justice Quarterly
Cited by (17)
Psychopathic traits and different types of criminal behavior: An assessment of direct effects and mediating processes
2022, Journal of Criminal JusticeCitation Excerpt :Procedural justice has been shown to have an direct and indirect impact on law-abiding behavior (Mazerolle, Bennett, Davis, Sargeant, & Manning, 2013; Tyler, 2003). Specifically, research has indicated that the sanction–crime relationship is conditioned by subjective judgments of procedural justice (Augustyn & Ward, 2015). Perception of unfairness increased anger, which in turn, increased the odds of illegitimate coping (Broidy, 2001).
The effect of direct and vicarious police contact on the educational achievement of urban teens
2019, Children and Youth Services ReviewCitation Excerpt :In response to social exclusion, individuals may embrace the deviant label ascribed to them, defy conventional norms by violating rules and laws, and increase involvement with deviant peers, all of which increase teen delinquency (Crank, 2018; Matsueda, 1992; Paternoster & Iovanni, 1989; Rios, 2011; Sherman, 1993; Sherman, 2014; Smith & Brame, 1994). Existing research supports the view espoused by labeling theory that police contact is associated with increased secondary deviance (Augustyn & Ward, 2015; Bernburg et al., 2006; Bernburg & Krohn, 2003; Lopes et al., 2012; Ward et al., 2014; Wiley et al., 2013; Wiley & Esbensen, 2016). Moreover, research suggests that direct police contact is associated with an increase in delinquency regardless of whether the stop resulted in an arrest (Wiley et al., 2013).
Advancing restrictive deterrence: A qualitative meta-synthesis
2016, Journal of Criminal JusticeCitation Excerpt :However, our QMS suggests that it is an open question if attention to risk and strategic selectivity, variables underlying restrictive deterrence, increase or decrease offending over a person's criminal career. There is evidence that the use of sanction avoidance strategies decreases offending (e.g., when people sell to fewer people or smaller quantities), but there is also evidence that these strategies can lead to an overall increase in offending or to no change at all (Augustyn & Ward, 2015; Cherbonneau & Copes, 2006). This increase occurs because people get better at committing crime, and acceptable opportunities are plentiful.
Alternatives to prison for drug offenders in Belgium during the past decade
2018, International Journal of Law and PsychiatryCitation Excerpt :Fifth, imprisonment also disregards the individual needs and motivations for engaging in drug offences (Bull, 2005; O'Callaghan et al., 2004). Sixth, individual attitudes towards sanctioning and the sanction experiences are not taken into account by the prison system (Augustyn & Ward, 2015). Imprisonment is hence considered to have unintended negative consequences for both offenders and society (Mitchell et al., 2017; O'Callaghan et al., 2004).
Exploring the Association between Levels of Police Presence, Contact, and Perceptions of Police Legitimacy
2024, Crime and DelinquencyLow Self-Control and Perceptions of Procedural Justice Among Urban-Born Youth: The Moderating Role of Officer Intrusiveness
2023, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology