ABSTRACT
Offender rehabilitation, pitting the rational ability of criminal justice against the seeming irrationality of criminal behavior, remains controversial. Psychology highlights the importance of emotions in mediating individual behavior. Borrowing from restorative justice as a more emotionally intelligent form of justice, this article examines the role of shame and guilt in a domestic violence offender treatment program. The emotions are differentiated and then activated, similar to the use of reintegrative shaming in restorative justice, to promote greater offender accountability and empathy. Using a two-group comparison of male domestic violence offenders, measurements were taken on three sets of scales in assessing the outcome of the shame transformation process. Statistically significant effects were found for self-esteem and empathetic concern. Findings and future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy , Domestic Violence/prevention & control , Prisoners/psychology , Psychotherapy, Group , Shame , Social Responsibility , Spouse Abuse/legislation & jurisprudence , Spouse Abuse/prevention & control , Spouse Abuse/psychology , Adult , Commitment of Mentally Ill/legislation & jurisprudence , Criminal Law , Domestic Violence/legislation & jurisprudence , Domestic Violence/psychology , Emotions , Guilt , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Power, Psychological , Psychodrama , Role Playing , Secondary Prevention , Self ConceptABSTRACT
A permutation procedure to compute a resampling probability value and empirical quantile limits is provided for Cronbach's alpha measure of internal reliability. The underlying assumptions for the conventional use of alpha are discussed. The use of a permutation test for Cronbach's alpha is highlighted as a valuable tool when sample sizes are small and necessary assumptions cannot be met.