Citation

Raaijmakers EAC, Keijser JW, Nieuwbeerta P, Dirkzwager AJE. Psychol. Crime Law 2017; 23(1): 32-55.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1068316X.2016.1217333

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

For a prison sentence to exert a specific deterrent effect, the ultimate question is that imprisonment is remembered as aversive once the offender is released, and is contemplating future criminal activities. Drawing on insights from social psychology and cognition, this study assessed (1) how inmates remember the severity of their imprisonment following release, and (2) how the severity as experienced while being incarcerated (e.g. the worst or the last moment) affects its recollected aversiveness among a sample of Dutch inmates who were released for approximately six months (n = 696). The findings indicated that the severity as experienced while being incarcerated is strongly related to the severity as recollected following release, net of the duration of confinement. Strikingly, to the extent that the length of imprisonment affected its recollected aversiveness, it did so in the opposite direction than traditional deterrence research presumes. Implications for correctional policy and future research are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

imprisonment; memories; severity; Specific deterrence; subjective experience