Belief in Redeemability and Punitive Public Opinion: “Once a Criminal, Always a Criminal” Revisited

Abstract

In 2009, Maruna and King presented results from a British survey showing that the public’s belief in the redeemability of people who committed offenses curbed their level of punitiveness. Based on a 2017 national survey in the United States ( n = 1,000), the current study confirms that redeemability is negatively related to punitive attitudes. In addition, the analyses reveal that this belief predicts support for rehabilitation and specific inclusionary policies (i.e., ban-the-box in employment, expungement of criminal records, and voting rights for people with a felony conviction). Findings regarding measures for punishment and rehabilitation were confirmed by a 2019 Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey. These results suggest that beliefs about capacity for change among people who committed offenses are key to understanding crime-control public policy.

Beyond the eternal criminal record: Public support for expungement

“…Consistent with the entity-incremental perspective in social psychology (Plaks et al, 2009) and the growing literature within criminology (see, e.g., Burton et al, 2020;Maruna & King, 2009), the current analysis showed that belief in redeemability is a robust predictor across different measures of support for criminal record expungement. In other words, the tyranny of just deserts, wherein expressive concerns drive general punitiveness (Darley, 2009), appears to end after sentencing, with utilitarian concerns about desistance and dangerousness taking on increased importance (Lehmann et al, 2020).…”

“…Some support also was manifested for community standing-whether a former offender volunteered in the community and would be recommended for expungement by neighbors. Signaling does not depend on an existing belief in offender redeemability, which our data show is related to support for record closure (see also Burton et al, 2020). Rather, it is a means of persuading others that a person's redeemability is a proven fact or evidence based.…”

“…Their analysis revealed that redeemability had a strong negative relationship with punitiveness toward offenders (β = −0.398). Notably, subsequent research examining redeemability or similar constructs, such as "malleability" or a "growth mindset," have generally supported this finding (see, e.g., Burton et al, 2020;Moss, Lee, Berman, & Rung, 2019;Rade, Desmarais, & Burnette, 2018;Reich, 2017;Sloas & Atkin-Plunk, 2019;Tam, Shu, Ng, & Tong, 2013).…”

“…The study's central independent variable is the respondents' belief in redeemability, which is measured using questions from Burton et al (2020). Similar measures of this construct have been used in prior research (e.g., Leverentz, 2011;Maruna & King, 2009;Ouellette et al, 2017).…”

“…This finding suggests that future public opinion studies of crime-related policy should include redeemability as a standard independent variable, especially when they focus on postsentencing policies. Efforts might also be made to develop the concept further, seeking to unpack it into different dimensions (see Burton et al, 2020). It might also be profitable to explore sources of belief in redeemability, ranging from characteristics of the offender (seriousness and extent of past criminal record) to characteristics of the respondents (e.g., racial resentment, past contact with offenders).…”