Common beliefs that people who commit crime are inherently bad and unlikely to change may make the public more accepting of illegitimate harms within the criminal justice system, according to criminology and psychology experts in the US and Australia.
A new study led by Flinders University, Princeton and Rutger University academics investigates responses from hundreds of people to assess their reactions towards unsanctioned, 'incidental' harms such as police brutality, deprivation in healthcare, and other additional struggles people commonly face in the justice system.
Flinders University criminologist and psychologist Dr Melissa de Vel-Palumbo says people sometimes fail to sympathise - and may even relish - reports of such harms.
"In this research, we sought to understand why there is not more public concern about legally illegitimate harms which are not prescribed by laws associated with arrest or conviction," says Dr de Vel-Palumbo from Flinders Criminology and the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University.
"We found the way people explain criminal behaviour matters. When people view a person who has committed a crime as having an underlying, unchangeable criminal character, they are more likely to tolerate that person suffering a legally illegitimate experience, seeing it as deserved punishment for who they are.
"This effect may partly arise because viewing criminality as an unchangeable part of a person's character can increase perceptions that the person remains dangerous."
The US and Australian researchers say these insights reveal how moral judgements about people who commit crime can shape public responses to harms occurring within the criminal justice system.
"People do bad things, but being labelled as a 'bad person' can lead to a raft of punitive, fear-based social responses, some of which may violate people's basic rights," says Dr de Vel-Palumbo, who is leading an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) project to co-design and test a new framework for correctional supervision.
"Promoting the idea that people can change and rehabilitation can be effective may be one way of encouraging greater concern for the treatment of people in the criminal justice system."
The new DECRA project, 'Co-Designing and Testing a New Framework for Correctional Supervision,' aims to develop and evaluate a new framework for correctional supervision that prioritises rehabilitation and community safety.
Using participatory design methods, the research will involve stakeholders in creating evidence-based practices for offender management. Expected outcomes include improved correctional strategies and reduced recidivism rates. Benefits include enhancing justice system effectiveness and promoting social reintegration of offenders.
The article, 'When We Do Not Care About What Happens to "Criminals": How Character Judgments Influence Indifference to Incidental Suffering in the Criminal Justice System' (2026) by Anna C Barron (Princeton University), Colleen M Berryessa (Rutgers University) and Melissa de Vel-Palumbo (Flinders University) has been published in the American Psychological Association APA PsycNet journal Law and Human Behavior. DOI: 10.1037/lhb0000626.
Acknowledgements: The authors have no known conflicts of interest to disclose. This research was supported by the Grant in Aid for Early Career Professionals award from the American Psychology-Law Society.
