Codi Lee Meyers

Project Abstract

            How do one's personal opinions and views of incarceration shape that individual's interpersonal relationships with offenders? For this particular project, societal perceptions of repeat criminal offenders were examined by comparing the positive and negative social responses to repeat offenders amongst members of the community of Cedar City, Utah. Some areas of interest that were delved into included employment opportunities, interpersonal relationships, entrustment of childcare, and education. The level of success one experiences when trying to become reintegrated into their community can largely impact their recidivism. While punitive measures taken against offenders can be major deterrents for committing the original crime, the manner in which one is welcomed back into society after their period of incarceration can act similarly to affect the decision to reoffend. The presence or absence of these factors can determine the success with which one is able to reintegrate into their community.

            Subjects for this research were recruited from pools of students enrolled in psychology and criminal justice courses at Southern Utah University. The researcher recruited students through a department wide email to both the criminal justice and psychology departments, which included a brief description of and a link to the survey. Upon clicking the link, participants were provided access to a survey hosted on SurveyMonkey. After reading the Informed Consent page detailing their rights within the study, participants who wished to continue clicked a button reading "Next". At this point, they completed the survey, beginning with three demographic questions and continuing on to twenty-seven multiple-choice questions. Completion of the survey concluded participation in this study.

            By evaluating society’s perceptions of these reoffenders, this research targeted some of the key issues those who have been incarcerated face when trying to reintegrate and become productive members of their community. Data collected through this research will later be presented at the Festival of Excellence in the spring of 2017, with hopes to encourage discussion between the researcher and other students, as well as faculty members. Having opened up the conversation on the topic of the difficulties of reintegration, the researcher plans to propose a solution to the specific issues currently preventing successful reintegration. The recommendations could work to serve the criminal justice system as a whole, as with more successful reintegration of offenders comes lower recidivism rates.

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Project Goal

            My intentions to collect data on societal perceptions of those who have committed crimes are based on my belief that successful reintegration will aid in lessening reoffending. By studying the struggles that those who have been incarcerated may be facing when they emerge from their sentence period, I have discovered that a societal system of labeling can be most influential in keeping these individuals from succeeding in the outside world.

 

How this Project Goal was Achieved

            The hypothesis for this research stated that members of the community would feel less comfortable with an individual who had been imprisoned multiple times for felonious crimes participating in various positions in the community than they would with an individual who had seen jail time multiple times for misdemeanant offenses. This pattern was continued as participants voiced feeling less comfortable with these misdemeanant offenders in various areas of the community than they would feel towards those with no criminal history. The survey that was administered to document these data points purposely did not disclose the seriousness of the criminal offenses for either the felony or misdemeanant accounts. I did not want to project further ideals upon participants.

            In doing so, I was effectively able to label a portion of the individuals described in the situations presented in my survey as felons, misdemeanants, and as those with no criminal history. This label alone, without any further information regarding the fictitious individual put forth for the purposes of this survey, allowed participants to make snap judgments based on society’s view of certain types of offenders. All criminals are viewed negatively, but since most participants were able to note that a felon was a more serious crime than a misdemeanor, felons were judged more negatively than misdemeanants. This effectively shows that a label regarding one’s criminal history can impact society’s perceptions of this individual in different areas of the community. On average, felons were those whom participants felt the least comfortable with holding various positions in the community, arguably due to the title of “reoffending felon”.

 

Outcome(s)

• I have registered to present my findings as a poster project at the Festival of Excellence in the spring to encourage discussion between myself and other students, as well as faculty members.

• The data gathered through my research has allowed for the conclusion that perhaps labels are the most important factor when attempting to reintegrate into the community after incarceration. While it is understood that jail and prison records are available to the public, a better-educated public may be more equipped to understand the members of their community who have finished serving a sentence. A more robust understanding of the criminal justice system, sentencing guidelines, and disparities amongst (not between) felonious and misdemeanant crimes may allow for a community that is able to view a person as a whole, not just as their criminal history.

 

How these Outcomes were Met

            Upon having my research approved by the Institutional Review Board, carrying out my survey, and analyzing the results that came through, I was able to register to present at Southern Utah University’s Festival of Excellence this coming spring. As this is occurring in early April, registering to present my findings is the most that I can show proof of at this point in the pursuit of presenting.

            After having briefly reviewed the raw data from my survey, it became apparent that the average participant felt most comfortable with those who had no criminal history holding various positions in the community. This was followed by those who had committed multiple misdemeanor offenses, with individuals who were reoffending felons being noted as those whom participants on average felt the least comfortable with holding various positions throughout the community. In further analysis, it was shown that the differences between the general comfort participants had with these three groups were statistically significant. This information was found through the completion of a paired samples t-test, a p-value of < 0.001 for all comparisons.

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Deliverable(s)

            My findings were submitted to the Creativity Engagement Center as a poster, formatted as a research paper highlighting results and a discussion section on Friday, January 27, 2017. Furthermore, these findings will also be presented in this same format at the Festival of Excellence and the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (RMPA) Conference this spring.