Reactance and Recidivism: Implications for Probation Policy and Research

1987 ◽  
Vol 64 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1047-1050
Author(s):  
Kevin I. Minor
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Psychological Reactance ◽  
Reactance Theory ◽  
Compliant Behavior ◽  
Psychological Reactance Theory

Psychological reactance theory and the criminal justice system make opposing predictions regarding the effects of restriction of freedom on compliant behavior. This paper applies reactance theory to the problem of probation recidivism. Theoretical linkages are discussed in terms of implications for probation policy, and possibilities for empirical research are suggested.

Modernisation and cultural change under New Labour: views of solicitors, clerks, magistrates, barristers and judges

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Justice System ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Specific Domain ◽  
North East ◽  
Criminal Justice Professionals ◽  
Critical Change

There is a paucity of empirical research on solicitors, court clerks, magistrates, barristers and judges conducted within the criminal justice system in England and Wales. Even though the research conducted for this chapter is now several years old, it is included and retained because of the valuable insights provided into the era of modernisation. Importantly, it provides insights into what criminal justice professionals perceived of probation during a period of critical change under new labour. Accordingly, this chapter constitutes a slice of criminal justice history, in North-East England, that can be accessed and utilised by other criminal justice researchers. In doing so it is intended to compensate for empirical paucity in this specific domain of interest.

scholarly journals Standardization and the Production of Justice in Summary Criminal Courts: A Post-Human Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 774-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Welsh ◽  
Matt Howard
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Unintended Consequence ◽  
Legal Issue ◽  
Professional Judgment ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Criminal Courts

Since the 1980s, successive governments have become increasingly distrustful of professional judgment in those services which remain funded by the state, including the criminal justice system. Against this background, governments sought to increase efficiency in summary criminal courts. One way that this seems to have occurred is via the use of standardized forms in case progression. During 2013, Welsh conducted empirical research in which the reliance placed on standardized case management forms became apparent. We argue, drawing on post-humanist vocabularies to inform our analytic framework, that such documents may have shifted the temporality of summary criminal justice, which has the (perhaps unintended) consequence of (further) marginalizing defendant participation and limiting the types of legal issue that are litigated. These documents and processes, therefore, participate in the development of a particularized, and temporally situated, form of ‘justice’.

Cognitive Theory and Plea-Bargaining

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca K. Helm
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Plea Bargaining ◽  
Heuristics And Biases ◽  
System A

Convictions in the criminal justice system now overwhelmingly occur by guilty plea. This is largely due to the “plea-bargaining” system in which the charge and sentence defendants receive as a result of pleading guilty is frequently much less severe than the charge and sentence that they would receive if convicted at trial. In this context, defendants must make complex decisions about whether to plead guilty or go to trial. This article draws on cognitive theory and empirical research to identify three potential weaknesses in the current plea system: (a) incentives offered to plead are likely to override considerations of factual guilt or innocence in a way that may be psychologically coercive; (b) groups that are cognitively disposed to pleading guilty when innocent are being offered insufficient protection; and (c) heuristics and biases are likely to influence plea decisions. Potential policy change to reduce these problems, informed by cognitive theory and decision-making research, then follow.

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