Abstract
The vast majority of offenders released from prison will re-offend, about two-thirds will be re-arrested with three years, most current prison inmates have prior prison experience, and many repeat offenders are devoted to what has been termed a criminal lifestyle. Findings from a survey of over 700 incarcerated adult offenders explore the effect of different measures of past punishment on inmates’ perceptions of the certainty and severity of future sanctions, and self-reported likelihood of re-offending after release. Results are mixed, with measures of current imprisonment being associated with a deterrent effect, while measures of past imprisonment (juvenile and adult) and experience with alternative sanctions being associated with a criminogenic effect. Recognizing that the data are not longitudinal and contain no measures of actual re-offending, the implied positive punishment effect is explained by applying social learning dynamics and insights from ethnographic studies. Specifically, a) non-social reinforcers-particularly affective costs and benefits experienced through offending, b) association with criminal reference groups in and out of prison, and c) a lack of legitimate, reintegrative opportunities upon reentry all serve to promote re-offending. Findings have implications for the study of offender decision-making processes, and speak to the efficacy of imprisonment as a deterrent to crime.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akers, R. L., & Sellers, C. S. (2004). Criminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and application (4th edn.). Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Company.
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Becker, H. S. (1953). Becoming a marijuana user. American Journal of Sociology, 59, 235–242.
Bennett, T., & Wright, R. (1984). Burglars on burglary: Prevention and the offender. Hampshire, England: Gower.
Bouffard, J. A. (2002). Methodological and theoretical implications of using subject-generated consequences in tests of rational choice theory. Justice Quarterly, 19, 747–771.
Brezina, T., & Piquero, A. R. (2003). Exploring the relationship between social and non-social reinforcement in the context of social learning theory. In J. Akers & G. Jensen (Eds.), In social learning theory and the explanation of crime (pp. 265–288). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Carmichael, S., Langton, L., Pendell, G., Retizel, J. D., & Piquero, A. R. (2005). Do the experiential and deterrent effect operate differently across gender? Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 267–276.
Cohen, A. K. (1995). Delinquent boys: The culture of the gang. New York: The Free Press.
Ellis, L. (1991). Monoamine oxidase and criminality: identifying an apparent biological marker for antisocial behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 28, 227–251.
Ellis, L., & Coontz, P. (1990). Androgens, brain functioning, and criminality: the neurohormonal foundations of antisociality. In L. Ellis & H. Hoffman (Eds.), Crime in biological, social, and moral contexts. New York: Praeger.
Fleisher, M. S. (1995). Beggars and thieves: Lives of urban street criminals. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Grasmick, H., & Bursik, R. (1990). Conscience, significant others, and rational choice: extending the deterrence model. Law & Society Review, 24, 837–861.
Irwin, W. (1909). Confessions of a con man. New York: Viking Press.
Katz, J. (1988). Seduction of crime: Moral and sensual attractions in doing evil. New York: Basic Books.
Klepper, S., & Nagin, D. (1989). The deterrent effects of perceived certainty and severity of punishment revisited. Criminology, 27, 721–746.
Lyng, S. (1990). Edgework: a social psychological analysis of voluntary risk taking. American Journal of Sociology, 95, 851–886.
Mauer, M., & Chesney-Lind, M. (Eds.) (2002). Invisible punishment: The collateral consequences of mass imprisonment. New York: The New Press.
Norfleet, J. F. (1924). Norfleet: The actual experiences of a Texas rancher’s 30,000 mile transcontinental chase after five confidence men. TX: Forth Worth.
Paternoster, R., & Piquero, A. R. (1995). Reconceptualizing deterrence: an empirical test of personal and vicarious experiences. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 32, 251–286.
Piquero, A. R., & Pogarsky, G. (2002). Beyond Stafford and Warr’s reconceptualization of deterrence: personal and vicarious experiences, impulsivity, and offending behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39, 153–186.
Pogarsky, G., & Piquero, A. R. (2003). Can punishment encourage offending?: investigating the “resetting” effect. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40, 95–120.
Shaw, C. R. (1930). The jack-roller: A delinquent boy’s own story. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Sherman, L. W. (1993). Defiance, deterrence, and irrelevance: a theory of the criminal sanction. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 445–473.
Shover, N., & Honaker, D. (1992). The socially bounded decision making of persistent property offenders. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 31, 276–293.
Stafford, M. C., & Warr, M. (1993). A reconceptualization of general and specific deterrence. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 123–135.
Thompson, H. S. (1971). Fear and loathing in Las Vegas: A savage journey to the heart of the American dream. New York: Warner Publishing.
Thompson, H. S. (1979). The great shark hunt: Strange tales from a strange time. New York: Warner Publishing.
Topalli, V. (2005). When being good is bad: an expansion of neutralization theory. Criminology, 43, 797–835.
Topalli, V. (2006). The seductive nature of autotelic crime: how neutralization theory serves as a boundary condition for understanding hardcore street offending. Sociological Inquiry, 76, 475–501.
Tunnell, K. D. (1992). Choosing crime: The criminal calculus of property offenders. Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers.
Tunnell, K. D. (2000). Living off crime. Chicago: Burham Inc. Publishers.
Walters, G. D. (1990). The criminal lifestyle: Patterns of serious criminal conduct. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Wilson, J. Q., & Herrnstein, R. J. (1985). Crime and human nature. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Wood, P. B., Cochran, J. K., & Pfefferbaum, B. (1995). Sensation-seeking and delinquent substance use: an extension of learning theory. Journal of Drug Issues, 25(1), 215–235.
Wood, P. B., Gove, W. R., Wilson, J. A., & Cochran, J. K. (1997). Nonsocial reinforcement and habitual criminal conduct: an extension of learning theory. Criminology, 35, 335–366.
Wood, P. B., & Grasmick, H. G. (1999). Toward the development of punishment equivalencies: male and female inmates rate the severity of alternative sanctions compared to prison. Justice Quarterly, 16, 19–50.
Wood, P. B., & May, D. C. (2003). Racial differences in perceptions of the severity of sanctions: a comparison of prison with alternatives. Justice Quarterly, 20, 605–631.
Wright, B., Avshalom Daspi, R. E., Moffitt, T. E., & Paternoster, R. (2004). Does the perceived risk of punishment deter criminally prone individual? Rational choice, self-control, and crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 41, 180–213.
Wright, R. T., & Decker, S. C. (1994). Burglars on the job: Streetlife and residential break-ins. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
Zuckerman, M. (1979). Sensation seeking: Beyond the optimal level of arousal. Hillsdale, N.Y: Erlbaum Press.
Zuckerman, M. (1984). Sensation seeking: a comparative approach to a human trait. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7, 413–471.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Presidential Plenary Address, Southern Criminal Justice Association Annual Meeting. Charleston, SC. September 2006.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wood, P.B. Exploring the Positive Punishment Effect Among Incarcerated Adult Offenders. Am J Crim Just 31, 8–22 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-007-9000-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-007-9000-4