Reintegrative shaming and stigmatization

“As someone who believes that restorative justice processes should be about reintegrative shaming and should reject stigmatization, it seems important to prohibit any degrading or humiliating form of treatment.”

John Braithwaite

“There is an important difference between reintegrative shaming and stigmatization.

While reintegrative shaming prevents crime, stigmatization is a kind of shaming that makes crime problems worse.

Stigmatization is the kind of shaming that creates outcasts; it is disrespectful, humiliating.

Stigmatization means treating criminals as evil people who have done evil acts.

Reintegrative shaming means disapproving of the evil of the deed while treating the person as essentially good.

Reintegrative shaming means strong disapproval of the act but doing so in a way that is respecting of the person.

Once we understand this distinction, we can understand why putting more police on the street can actually increase crime.”

SSP