Purpose This study investigated a possible mechanism of the labelling effect.Method In a longitudinal study with a cohort of N = 836 first-time incarcerated young men, it was tested whether the perceived label as deviant by others would predict future recidivism and second, whether adaptation of the actual self-concept to the perceived view by others was associated with recidivism.Results The analyses found no relationship between self-concept adaptivity and recidivism. However, the perception of perceived deviant social stigma significantly predicts recidivism after release.Conclusion The results confirm a 'labelling effect' on recidivism. However, as opposed to the social-constructivist labelling argument, the mechanism of this effect does not seem to rest on a direct transfer of social stigma into the actual self-concept.

Objective The present study examined the role of self-esteem stabilization processes in response to restrictive developmental conditions in early adulthood. It did so by investigating accommodative adjustments among incarcerated young adults. It was argued that an adjustment of how an individual desires to be to how they actually perceive themselves (i.e., accommodative adjustment) can help to maintain a more stable self-esteem and buffers negative changes. Method Within a longitudinal design with three measurements occasions data of N = 728 incarcerated men between the age of 14 and 24 were analyzed. Accommodative adjustments were assessed at two occasions as adaptations of the ideal self-concept ("I would like to be horizontal ellipsis ") to the previous actual self-concept ("I am horizontal ellipsis "). In addition, assimilative adjustments were operationalized as adaptations of the actual self-concept to the previous ideal self-concept that means changing what individuals think of themselves in accordance to how they desire to be. Results Regression analysis showed that accommodative adjustments predicted self-esteem. Moreover, accommodative processes were particularly important when assimilative processes were less pronounced. Conclusion Especially at the beginning of the incarceration period, accommodative adjustments of the self-concept buffer damaging effects of incarceration and support the (re-)stabilization of self-esteem.

Findings on the reasoning and rehabilitation program (R & R) from the German prison system (Hosser and Weber 2021) show that R & R participants undergo positive changes in attitude and behavior during treatment. To address the question as to what extent these changes also affect legal probation, recidivism data of 110 male R & R participants from various juvenile detention centers and prisons were compared with a control group (n = 74), which was formed retrospectively based on prison files. Two years after release from prison, participants' overall recidivism rate was 13.7% lower than that of the control group. In addition, R & R participants were significantly less likely to be resentenced to prison; however, this effect was exclusively attributable to the participants from the juvenile detention centers. Moreover, recidivism could only be predicted to a limited extent by the attitudinal and behavioral changes that occurred during treatment.

ZusammenfassungBefunde zum „Reasoning-and-Rehabilitation“-Programm (R&R) aus dem deutschen Strafvollzug (Hosser und Weber 2021) zeigen, dass Teilnehmer des R&R im Behandlungsverlauf positive Einstellungs- und Verhaltensveränderungen durchlaufen. Offen ist die Frage, inwieweit sich diese Veränderungen auf die Legalbewährung auswirken. Um dies zu klären, wurden die Rückfalldaten von 110 männlichen Teilnehmern des R&R aus verschiedenen Jugend- und Justizvollzugsanstalten mit den Daten einer nachträglich anhand der Akten parallelisierten Kontrollgruppe (n = 74) verglichen. Zwei Jahren nach Haftentlassung war die allgemeine Rückfallrate der Teilnehmer um 13,7 % niedriger als die der Kontrollgruppe. Die Teilnehmer des R&R wurden außerdem signifikant seltener zu erneuten Haftstrafen verurteilt. Dieser Effekt ließ sich jedoch ausschließlich auf die Teilnehmer aus dem Jugendstrafvollzug zurückführen. Die Rückfälligkeit konnte darüber hinaus nur begrenzt durch die während des R&R erzielten Einstellungs- und Verhaltensveränderungen vorhergesagt werden.

Die soziale Ausgrenzung und Stigmatisierung von Haftentlassenen, ist ungeachtet moderner Strafsysteme, auch in modernen Gesellschaften allgegenwärtig. Für die Betroffenen stellt dies eine starke Stressquelle dar, die verminderte Chancen zur sozialen Teilhabe, Veränderungen sozialer Interaktionen und „beschädigte“ Identitäten zur Folge haben kann und die erfolgreiche Resozialisierung erschwert. Ausgehend von theoretischen Überlegungen zur Funktion und Wirkweise sozialer Ausgrenzung durch den Vollzug und zur Etikettierungstheorie, werden methodische Schwierigkeiten bei der wissenschaftlichen Überprüfung der Effekte und empirische Ansätze dargestellt. Anschließend werden mögliche Folgen für die Betroffenen erörtert sowie darauf bezogene Bewältigungsstrategien.

Zusammenfassung Das „Reasoning-and-Rehabilitation“-Programm (R&R) wird in zahlreichen Einrichtungen des deutschen Straf- und Maßregelvollzugs angewendet und wurde international bereits eingehend evaluiert. Dennoch fehlten bislang Untersuchungen zur Behandlungseffektivität aus dem deutschen Strafvollzug. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wurde die Effektivität des R&R erstmals in diesem Setting anhand eines Messwiederholungsdesigns (Prä‑, Post-, und Follow-up-Messung) in einer Stichprobe von 134 männlichen Inhaftierten im Alter von 17 bis 58 Jahren untersucht. Erhoben wurden Selbstangaben (u. a. Aggression, Impulsivität, moralische Bewertungen und Empathie) sowie Akteninformationen zu Regelverstößen. Letztere wurden mit den Angaben einer parallelisierten Kontrollgruppe ( n = 113) verglichen. Im Haftverlauf konnten positive Veränderungen der erfassten Risiko- und Schutzfaktoren der Delinquenz mit Effektstärken im kleinen bis mittleren Bereich ausgemacht werden, die bis zur Follow-up-Messung stabil blieben. Auf der Verhaltensebene zeigten sich bei den Programmteilnehmern im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe weniger neue Regelverstöße im Behandlungsverlauf. Die Ergebnisse werden im Hinblick auf die Behandlungspraxis diskutiert.

Using latent class growth analysis, this prospective longitudinal study aimed to identify different trajectories of delinquency among prisoners ( N = 2352) of youth correctional facilities. Criminal behaviour was monitored with crime register data on individuals from ages 14 to 25. Analyses revealed four developmental pathways: early- and late-starting desisters (31.8 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively) and early- and late-starting persisters (21.2 percent and 41.8 percent, respectively). The effects of potential risk and protective factors from multiple domains (individual, family, peer and social factors) were analysed with analyses of variance and χ² tests for each of the distinct trajectory groups. The quantity of risk factors was higher throughout the observation period in the persisting groups. Cumulative disadvantages could often be found in the persistent trajectories when low social bonds and low commitment to social norms persisted until (early) adulthood. Similarly, higher social capital and social competencies were more prevalent among offenders who desisted from crime, regardless of the severity of their offences committed as adolescents.

The "reasoning and rehabilitation" program (R&R) for offender treatment has been successfully evaluated around the world. Nevertheless, studies on treatment effectiveness in the German prison system are still missing. Therefore, the effectiveness of the R&R was investigated in six prisons using pre-, post-, and follow-up measurements in a sample of 134 male inmates aged 17-58 years. Standardized self-report measures (e.g., aggression, impulsivity, moral evaluations and empathy) as well as official information on prison misconduct were collected. Results showed positive changes in risk and protective factors of delinquency during treatment, with effect sizes ranging from small to medium. The effects remained stable until the follow-up measurement. On the behavioral level, participants showed fewer violations of the rules during the course of treatment compared to a matched control group (n = 113). The results are discussed in terms of treatment practice.

The penal system is facing increasing challenges. On the one hand, the clientele is changing in the direction of a multicultural melting pot accompanied by new phenomena, such as radicalization processes and organized clan structures. Furthermore, there is an increasing group of inmates who have grown old in prison and are characterized by many failed attempts at treatment, long periods of imprisonment, often psychopathological disorders and unfavorable perspectives for release. On the other hand, the federal states in Germany have increasingly mandated the institutions to focus the resources on criminogenic high-risk groups. In addition, the federal legislature imposed on them special treatment tasks for preventive detention centers and for the group of prisoners threatened by this measure. There is growing evidence that prisons are reaching their limits in coping with these challenges with their traditional means. The aim of this article is therefore to promote the expansion of the traditional means of intervention primarily intended for educational and therapeutic purposes, with which the resocialization mandate to the penal system has been implemented so far. Another aim is to expand them in the direction of a more fundamental consideration of the prerequisites and processes for changes in correctional institutions. The authors are convinced that developmental psychology offers promising prerequisites and appropriate methodological and theoretical tools. In the article the prison system is first analyzed historically and its mandate to resocialize the clientele is interpreted as a mandate for developmental intervention. This provides the basis for the argumentation to take a developmentally psychologically sound perspective on the processes of change of prisoners in prison. This does not entail a particular developmental psychology of the prison system itself but rather of a developmentally psychologically informed consideration and thus of a developmental psychology within the prison system. In the second part an attempt is made to design the framework for a possible developmental psychological analysis of the prison system and its clientele. It is assumed that change, i.e. development, takes place along the individual's responses to and coping with problems that a person faces in the course of the biography. For this reason, typical tasks with which a person is confronted in the course of life are first considered, albeit with a view to special features of a target group of criminal offenders. Furthermore, extraordinary "critical" life events are examined, which cause the requirement for change due to their altering of basic conditions for the individual's development. It is argued that the special clientele in the special context of a prison holds increased risks of such critical life events. Finally, problems are analyzed from an actional perspective on human development in general and the perspective of self-selected life goals in particular. When the processes which regulate peoples' responses to their developmental tasks and challenges are examined, it can be seen that the necessary regulation processes within a prison population can be expected to have special characteristics that are worth investigating from a developmental psychological perspective. Finally, the penal system as a space in which processes of change are to take place is analyzed from a developmental psychological perspective. It is argued that broadening the perspective on prisons in practice and research towards a developmental psychological angle has the potential to contribute to a broadening of the possibilities of promising interventions within prison.

The penal system is facing increasing challenges. On the one hand, the clientele is changing in the direction of a multicultural melting pot accompanied by new phenomena, such as radicalization processes and organized clan structures. Furthermore, there is an increasing group of inmates who have grown old in prison and are characterized by many failed attempts at treatment, long periods of imprisonment, often psychopathological disorders and unfavorable perspectives for release. On the other hand, the federal states in Germany have increasingly mandated the institutions to focus the resources on criminogenic high-risk groups. In addition, the federal legislature imposed on them special treatment tasks for preventive detention centers and for the group of prisoners threatened by this measure. There is growing evidence that prisons are reaching their limits in coping with these challenges with their traditional means. The aim of this article is therefore to promote the expansion of the traditional means of intervention primarily intended for educational and therapeutic purposes, with which the resocialization mandate to the penal system has been implemented so far. Another aim is to expand them in the direction of a more fundamental consideration of the prerequisites and processes for changes in correctional institutions. The authors are convinced that developmental psychology offers promising prerequisites and appropriate methodological and theoretical tools. In the article the prison system is first analyzed historically and its mandate to resocialize the clientele is interpreted as a mandate for developmental intervention. This provides the basis for the argumentation to take a developmentally psychologically sound perspective on the processes of change of prisoners in prison. This does not entail a particular developmental psychology of the prison system itself but rather of a developmentally psychologically informed consideration and thus of a developmental psychology within the prison system. In the second part an attempt is made to design the framework for a possible developmental psychological analysis of the prison system and its clientele. It is assumed that change, i.e. development, takes place along the individual’s responses to and coping with problems that a person faces in the course of the biography. For this reason, typical tasks with which a person is confronted in the course of life are first considered, albeit with a view to special features of a target group of criminal offenders. Furthermore, extraordinary “critical” life events are examined, which cause the requirement for change due to their altering of basic conditions for the individual’s development. It is argued that the special clientele in the special context of a prison holds increased risks of such critical life events. Finally, problems are analyzed from an actional perspective on human development in general and the perspective of self-selected life goals in particular. When the processes which regulate peoples’ responses to their developmental tasks and challenges are examined, it can be seen that the necessary regulation processes within a prison population can be expected to have special characteristics that are worth investigating from a developmental psychological perspective. Finally, the penal system as a space in which processes of change are to take place is analyzed from a developmental psychological perspective. It is argued that broadening the perspective on prisons in practice and research towards a developmental psychological angle has the potential to contribute to a broadening of the possibilities of promising interventions within prison.

Zusammenfassung Der Justizvollzug sieht sich zunehmenden Herausforderungen gegenüber. So verändert sich einerseits ihre Klientel in Richtung eines multikulturellen Schmelztiegels, was neue Phänomene mit sich bringt, wie z. B. Radikalisierungsprozesse oder kriminogene und organisierte Clanstrukturen. Es findet sich aber auch eine wachsende Kerngruppe im Vollzug gealterter Menschen mit vielfach gescheiterten Behandlungsversuchen, langer Haftsozialisation, oft psychopathologischer Vorbelastung und mit ungünstiger Entlassungsperspektive. Auf der anderen Seite erteilten die Bundesländer den Anstalten zunehmend den Auftrag, ihre Ressourcen verstärkt auf kriminogene Hochrisikogruppen zu fokussieren, und der Bundesgesetzgeber legte ihnen überdies besondere Behandlungspflichten für Sicherungsverwahrte und für die von dieser Maßregel bedrohte Gruppe von Gefangenen auf. Es mehren sich die Indizien, dass die Gefängnisse mit ihren traditionellen Mitteln bei der Bewältigung dieser Aufgaben an Grenzen stoßen. Anliegen des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es deshalb, dafür zu werben, die traditionellen Mittel einer primär erzieherisch und therapeutisch gedachten Intervention auszuweiten und in Richtung einer stärker grundsätzlichen Betrachtung der Voraussetzungen und Prozesse für Veränderungen in dieser speziellen Institution zu erweitern. Nach Überzeugung der Autoren bietet hierfür die Entwicklungspsychologie gute Voraussetzungen und ein passendes methodisches und theoretisches Rüstzeug. Im Beitrag wird deshalb der Justizvollzug zunächst historisch analysiert und sein Auftrag zur Resozialisierung seiner Klientel als Auftrag zur Entwicklungsintervention interpretiert. Dies bietet die Argumentationsgrundlage dafür, eine entwicklungspsychologische Perspektive auf Veränderungsprozesse der Gefangenen einzunehmen, wobei es nicht um eine spezielle Entwicklungspsychologie des Strafvollzuges und ihrer Klientel geht, sondern vielmehr um eine entwicklungspsychologisch fundierte Betrachtung; mithin um eine Entwicklungspsychologie im Strafvollzug. Im zweiten Teil wird der Versuch unternommen, den Rahmen für eine mögliche entwicklungspsychologische Analyse des Justizvollzuges und seiner Klientel zu entwerfen. Dabei wird davon ausgegangen, dass sich Veränderung entlang der Beschäftigung des Individuums mit Problemen vollzieht, die sich ihm im Lauf seiner Biografie stellen. Deshalb werden zunächst typische Aufgaben betrachtet, mit denen ein Mensch im Lauf seines Lebens konfrontiert wird, mit Blick auf etwaige Besonderheiten einer straffälligen Personengruppe. Weiterhin werden außergewöhnliche, „kritische“ Lebensereignisse untersucht, die wegen ihrer Setzung veränderter Rahmenbedingungen Veränderungserfordernisse bedingen. Dabei wird argumentiert, dass die spezielle Klientel im Kontext einer Haftanstalt vermehrte Risiken solcher kritischen Lebensereignisse birgt. Schließlich werden Probleme aus einer aktionalen Entwicklungsperspektive, insbesondere selbst gesetzter Lebensziele, analysiert. Dabei werden die Prozesse, mit denen Menschen auf solche Herausforderungen reagieren, einer näheren Betrachtung unterzogen. Auch hier wird deutlich, dass die erforderlichen Regulationsprozesse bei einer strafgefangenen Population Besonderheiten erwarten lassen, die, zu untersuchen, lohnenswert zu sein verspricht. Schließlich wird der Strafvollzug als Raum, in dem sich Veränderungsprozesse vollziehen sollen, einer entwicklungspsychologisch informierten Analyse unterzogen. Es zeigt sich, dass eine entwicklungspsychologische Erweiterung der Perspektive auf den Justizvollzug in Praxis und Forschung Potenziale bereithält, zu einer Verbreiterung der Möglichkeiten erfolgversprechender Interventionen beizutragen.

Religiosity is considered to be a protective factor in delinquency research; however, recently published studies found contradictory results with respect to the influence of religiosity on German Muslims. It therefore remained unclear whether Muslim religiosity is associated with diminished or increased delinquency. The question arises whether individual religious practices, social religious practices, religious fundamentalism and perceived religious discrimination predict deliquent behavior of Muslims. In an attempt to answer this question data from 761 Muslim schoolchildren provided by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence were evaluated by correlation and regression analyses. It was found that religious fundamentalism and perceived religious discrimination predict higher delinquency rates, that social religious practices are not significantly associated with delinquency and that individual religious practices predict lower delinquency rates. Therefore, different aspects of Muslim religiosity show differential associations with delinquent behavior. A possible explanation for the contradictory results of previous studies is that religiosity can have protective or criminogenic effects depending on which of the abovenamed aspects is predominant. Consideration of these differential roles of religiosity can contribute to an improvement of criminal prevention and prognosis, particularly for Muslims.

Religion is seen as one of the main causes of honor violence; yet, empirical studies investigating this purported relationship remain scarce. Therefore, we investigated how individual and social religious practices, religious fundamentalism, and demographic variables contribute to support for honor killings of women and men. We analyzed multinational face-to-face interview data of Muslims with a final sample size of N = 25,723. Using multilevel ordinal regression, we found that increased support for honor killings was strongly predicted by the frequency of mosque attendance, religious fundamentalism, a lower educational level, and living in a rural area. Conversely, gender and the frequency of private prayer did not significantly relate to support for honor killings. Thus, different aspects of religion have differential effects: Individual aspects of religious practice such as private prayer seem to be not significantly related to support for honor violence, whereas social aspects such as mosque attendance and religious fundamentalism strongly predict an increased support for honor killings.

Purpose Although fraud is widespread, little remains known about the specific psychological characteristics of fraudsters that can be used in prevention or treatment. The purpose of this paper is therefore to examine the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters in comparison with other groups of offenders. Design/methodology/approach The investigation included imprisoned face-to-face fraudsters (n=11), imprisoned violent offenders (n=10) and non-offenders who had completed the Emotional Competence Questionnaire and the Sociomoral Reflection Measure. Findings Fraudsters displayed a significantly higher capacity to recognise emotions in others compared with the other two groups. In addition, there were no differences in socio-emotional skills between the groups. In terms of moral judgement ability, fraudsters and non-offenders demonstrated a level of a mature moral judgement. The moral judgement abilities of the violent offenders were significantly lower. Practical implications Therapeutic work with fraudsters should focus on the awareness and sense of responsibility for fellow human beings having regard to their specific self-image and justification schemes. For prevention, an adoption of a structural orientation of work processes, that is, geared more towards teamwork is recommended. Moreover, a positive impact of unethical management on the risk of fraud offenses is pointed out. Originality/value This paper follows an innovative methodological approach by examining the socio-emotional competencies and moral judgement abilities of convicted fraudsters and has implications for risk management both therapeutically and organisationally.

Low emotional responsiveness promotes utilitarian decision-making on moral dilemmas. Based on the assumption that fraudsters use their emotional competence to deceive their victims, their emotional responsiveness is not expected to be protective against utilitarian decision-making. The present study investigates the key role of emotional responsiveness in relation to moral decision-making in 11 imprisoned fraudsters, 10 imprisoned violent offenders, and 11 non-offenders. Participants' neural baseline activation of bilateral anterior insula (AI) was used as an indicator for emotional responsiveness. Results indicate that fraudsters and non-offenders have a higher right AI baseline activation than violent offenders. Yet, fraudsters and violent offenders show a stronger tendency towards utilitarian decisions than non-offenders. The predictive power of AI baseline activation on moral decision-making reaches significance only for fraudsters. Results give evidence that fraudsters are highly sensitive to their emotional state of mind, which, contrary to our expectation, exerts a strong influence on their moral decisions.

Purpose – The social interaction between a deceiver and the deceived opponent is a determining factor for deception that involves emotions. Hence, besides a great amount of cognitive control, a successful lie also requires the regulation of emotions, especially when deceiving somebody face-to-face. The purpose of this paper is to investigate emotion regulation processes in an interpersonal lying experiment and aimed to examine whether fraudsters have well-functioning emotion regulation strategies or show a lack of emotional processes when deceiving face-to-face. Design/methodology/approach – Imprisoned fraudsters (n=11), imprisoned violent offenders (n=10) and non-offenders (n=11) spontaneously deceived an interrogator in a face-to-face situation while the deceivers’ EEG was recorded. Findings – The results showed that a decrease of alpha activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) predicted a higher frequency of deceptive responses as well as less guilt about deceiving the interrogator. These findings suggest a pivotal role of the left dlPFC in emotion regulation during deception for fraudsters, violent offenders and non-offenders. Unlike violent offenders, fraudsters did not show differences in alpha activity of the dlPFC between truthful and deceptive responses, suggesting that fraudsters are better at emotion regulation while deceiving their opponents. Originality/value – This study emphasizes the recruitment of emotion regulation processes during deception. The results give first insight into the emotional processes underlying deception in fraudsters.