Back to RJ Archive

“Randomizing Shame to Criminal Events: Issues in Experimental Criminology.”

Sherman, L.
June 4, 2015

Source: (1996) Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Conference, Annual Meeting, Chicago, November 20-23, 1996.

This essay reports on the Canberra AUS Reintegrative Shaming Experiment (RISE), which has randomly assigned shaming conferences or court to over 500 offenders. In the process, it has encountered several new issues in experimental criminology, centered on the connections of offenders to events. One issue is the measurement of event-based recidivism across co-offenders, both before and after treatment. Another is the measurement of event-based treatment across offenders who respond differently to treatment conditions. A third is the heterogeneity in timing of the treatments, both within and across treatment group, in relation to recidivism and re-randomization. These issues are of general concern to any experimental design in which consistent treatment of co-offenders is a condition of random assignment.

Tags:

Abstract
Support the cause

We've Been Restoring Justice for More Than 40 Years

Your donation helps Prison Fellowship International repair the harm caused by crime by emphasizing accountability, forgiveness, and making amends for prisoners and those affected by their actions. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results are transformational.

Donate Now