Canberra Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE)

OVERVIEW

The Canberra Reintegrative Shaming Experiments (RISE) is a restorative justice intervention that assigns juvenile offenders to conferences instead of court hearings. It is designed to reduce reoffending by lessening the stigmatization that offenders face. RISE was evaluated with youth violent offenders, shoplifting offenders, and personal property offenders.  It was not found to reduce rates of reoffending.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Juvenile shoplifting or personal property offenders, youth violent offenders, and drunk driving offenders.

RISE is a restorative justice intervention that diverts youthful offenders from the traditional justice system. It is based on research showing that people who feel they have been treated fairly by the justice system are less likely to break the law again. The intervention involves assigning offenders to conferences rather than court hearings. The conferences are meant to be less stigmatizing than court hearings, and the intervention aims to reduce reoffending.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Evaluated population: RISE was conducted in Canberra, Australia.  The program involved youth violence offenders, juvenile shoplifting offenders, juvenile personal property offenders, and drunk driving offenders. However, since the drunk driving sample was not predominantly youth, it is not discussed here. Youth violent offenders were all under 30 years old, while juvenile personal property and shoplifting offenders were all under 18 years old. The youth violence sample included 89 cases and 110 offenders. The juvenile shoplifting sample included 108 cases and 135 offenders. The juvenile personal property sample included 162 cases and 238 offenders.

Approach: Cases were randomly assigned to the conference (intervention) or court (control) condition. Data were collected on offending rates before and after assignment to conditions. Data were analyzed only for offenders with at least one year of follow-up data available. Each type of offense was analyzed separately.

Results: There was a positive impact on reoffending rates for the youth violence sample, but it was not statistically significant. Among the juvenile shoplifting sample, there was no significant difference in reoffending rates between the conferencing and control groups, although the conferencing group’s reoffending rate was lower. There was no impact on reoffending rates among the juvenile personal property offenders.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Sherman, L.W., Strang, H., & Woods, D.J. (2000). Recidivism patterns in the Canberra reintegrative shaming experiments (RISE). Canberra, Australia: Australian National University.

KEYWORDS: Adolescents (12-17), Youth (16+), Young Adults (18-24), Juvenile Offenders, Delinquency

Program information last updated on 8/23/11.

© Child Trends 2003