Psychological Impacts Of First-Time Offending

Have you ever wondered how the commission of the “first offence” can reshape a person's self-image or identity? Does labelling people directly as “Criminals” and further stigmatizing their existence after their very “first offence" push them towards committing more offences in the future?

These are questions that are not usually discussed as it is seen appropriate to punish a “criminal” who commits a crime or an offence, harming other individuals and subsequently the entire society. However, we have to keep in mind the repercussions a first time offence could have on the “offender” himself and not just on the “victim” or the society.

The first time an individual encounters the criminal justice system is rarely an ordinary and independent episode; it significantly shapes their future conduct and, most importantly, reveals what kind of person they will eventually become. When a person is arrested, interrogated, detained, or mandated to appear in court while the proceedings against them are due, they end up getting intermingled with the justice system, and even after being proven innocent, the first-hand experience with criminal proceeding can have unsettling impacts on the very foundations of identity, security, and mental health for the particular individuals.

The public suspicion and prejudices grow towards that person and all these adverse factors collectively operate not merely as legal procedures but as deeply symbolic events that portray an individual as deviant or atypical in society, even when they are found “not guilty”. The psychological impacts of crossing the legal line, as it is recognised in criminology, include the feeling of shame, alienation, othering, anxiety, anger, and trauma within individuals, which can further lead to a psychological or a “neurological” rupture of our mental system. The “real” offenders, no doubt, must undergo legal proceedings to be punished for the crimes they commit, but it is pivotal to understand what impact the “punishments” or “penalties” would have on their respective behaviour and life in the future, whether they would reintegrate into society or drift further apart from it.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH CRIMINAL LAW- SHOCK, FEAR, AND THE COLLAPSE OF NORMAL LIFE

It is not usual that an individual is accused of committing a crime, or that he is questioned by the police, arrested or even detained. It is generally believed that people are law abiding and “socially acceptable” until they commit an offense against other individuals or the state and this assumption gets completely shattered which sociologists describe as “biographical disruptions”[i], experiences that disrupt the normal functioning of an individual’s everyday life. An individual's initial encounter with the penal system as an accused or offender often leads them to develop emotional distress, restlessness, frequent panic attacks, insomnia, sudden nervous breakdowns, feelings of helplessness, extreme concern and uncertainty about their future.[ii]

Psychological studies exhaustively demonstrate that individuals entering custody for the first time repeatedly exhibit heightened rates of depression, suicidal ideation, and PTSD[iii] (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in the earliest stages of detention, even before a verdict has been delivered or any conviction has occurred. These reactions are extended to even those individuals who are accused of a crime and not just the convicted ones. The convicted individuals, after being released, oftentimes describe the psychological toll that imprisonment takes on their mental well-being. They describe feelings of hyper-vigilance and fear of authority, which indicates or suggests that a mere skirmish with the criminal process can leave profound and durable psychological traces.[iv]

LABELLING, STIGMA, AND THE RESHAPING OF IDENTITY

Howard Becker’s “Theory of Labelling”[v] substantially explains that deviance is not solely influenced by individual behaviour but also by social reactions. Once the society classifies someone as a “criminal” or “offender”, their interactions with the components and aspects of the society and their perceptions of self, drastically change. They are stigmatised, discriminated against, and often face “ostracisation” by the society, which leads to them having less employment opportunities, strains in friendships, tainted reputation, and scrutinising neighbours who put surveillance on their every move. All these hostile and detrimental elements result in the individuals internalising these external judgements and developing, what psychologists call “self-stigma”[vi], which is basically a process through which individuals perceive themselves as unworthy or fundamentally flawed.

The first-time offenders, specifically, are affected by the external prejudices and for them this identity shift can be devastating, eventually leading them to having no faith in the education system or work culture, considerably lowering their self-esteem and confidence and hence reducing their attachment to the conventional “social roles”. Becker's theory[vii] elaborately explains the reasons for the failure of early judicial intervention, which instead of being reformative and profoundly beneficial, sometimes end up increasing the likelihood of later offending. This happens when legitimate pathways to justice appear closed, and labelled identity becomes self-fulfilling.

ADOLESCENCE, NEURODEVELOPMENT, AND HEIGHTENED PSYCHOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY

First time offending affects everyone, but children and adolescents are the most vulnerable groups, which are profoundly affected by the psychological repercussions of offending, as they are still in the process of developing an identity and their regulatory capacities are still forming. Their conduct and personalities can be shaped and moulded with little effort as they are gullible and easily manipulated by others.

Laurence Steinberg, a developmental psychologist and B. J. Casey, a renowned neurologist extensively deliberated on this concept and came to the conclusion that an average adolescent brain is characterized by an imbalance between highly reactive emotional systems in the limbic circuitry and a still-maturing prefrontal cortex[viii] accountable for self-regulation and long-term planning. Their neurological make-up makes young people hyper-sensitive to insults, humiliation, rewards, and social appraisal and less likely to succumb to vulnerable situations and extreme pressure.[ix] When the youth, especially teenagers, face police interrogations or courts for the first time, they are emotionally immature, volatile, and fragile, exacerbating their anger and feelings of disgrace and "resistance”, further amplifying criminogenic social norms.

Terrie Moffitt's “theory of life-course”[x] s also pivotal in understanding the re-offending rates amongst adolescents, explaining the concept of the “adolescence-limited” group, which, he believes, includes a large number of young people whose offending rates would naturally fade with maturity. Hence, harsher punishments, either legal or social, could have detrimental effects on the overall development of these youngsters and could risk transforming their “temporary developmental turbulences” into lifelong psychological damage.

TRAUMA, ATTACHMENT, AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FALLOUT OF FIRST JUSTICE-SYSTEM CONTACT

The individuals who have suffered childhood abuse, neglect, household violence, or parental addiction, are prone to psychological devastation and desolation once they commit an offence or are accused of committing one, as they are already exposed to emotional distress and mental agony. These individuals carry lifelong adversities and unstable caregiving right from their households.

Vincent Felitti, a famous physician, propounded the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)[xi] study which explains how personal exposures of an individual to adverse conditions of livelihood such as abuse, psychological torture, and neglect, profoundly mould their later mental-health difficulties and criminal tendencies, and “affect how they react to the criminal justice system”. When such people are exposed to the “adversities” of the criminal justice system including arrest, detention, and interrogation, they get re-traumatised as their worst nightmares are re-enacted and reinforced in front of their eyes once again, activating the fear responses, culminated in them long before the alleged offence occurred.

Julian Ford has comprehensively documented the impact of first time offending on individuals with previously traumatizing experiences[xii]. He observed that these people experience disturbing flashbacks, emotional numbing, irritability, and hyper-vigilance, which impacts their engagement with the legal processes.

Reactions and responses which are shaped by the traumatic experiences of individuals are closely related to their early relations, a connection which is best demonstrated by John Bowlby’s “Attachment theory”[xiii], which expounds the relation of secure and insecure bonds of children with their immediate social environment, such as their parents or siblings, and tells us that the children who come from relatively “secure” families with good “social bonds” are more likely to be empathetic and faithful in the justice system and government authorities, while as the children belonging to the more “insecure” households inculcate more scepticism and cynicism towards the social institutions and bureaucratic authorities, making them prone to defensive or hostile responses. Encounters with the law and order enforcement agency may confirm their long-standing beliefs of hostility and antagonism, further intensifying feelings of disdain and resentment towards these power figures.

Conversely, positive reinforcement, respectful treatment, good communication, etc., can interrupt these patterns and motivate individuals to seek judicial aid. Taken together, trauma exposure and attachment insecurity clarify why early or initial contact with the justice system can feel not only punitive but existentially threatening, transforming a single “legal episode” into a profound psychological crisis.

CONCLUSION

First-time offending is not merely an act of defiance, it is also about the emotional, psychological, cognitive, and mental consequences of undergoing systems of punishment and control. Across ages, sexes and social backgrounds, initial contacts with the penal system can reshape identity, intensify trauma, erode trust, and overhaul future behaviour.

The works, as mentioned above, of renowned scholars such as Howard Becker, Laurence Steinberg, Terrie Moffit and others emphasises a crucial lesson i.e., the criminal justice institutions along with other social institutions are extremely powerful in shaping an individual's life and play a critical role in either interrupting cycles of harm or entrenching them. To reduce the rate of criminality within the society, a significant importance needs to be given to mental health of those who first cross the “legal line”, not just attending to deterrent measures. It would ensure that justice systems to prioritize dignity, parity, and rehabilitative intent rather than reflexive severity.

REFERENCES:

[i] The concept of biographical disruption describes the influence of a significant, sudden event or events on the course of an individual’s life that cardinally changes its direction and plans. Significant changes that affect an individual are experienced both objectively and explained and interpreted subjectively in a person’s biography. Biological disruptions

[ii] Bury Michael, Chronic Illness as Biographical Disruption, 4 Sociol. Health Illn. 167, 170(1982).

[iii] Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a traumatic event. A traumatic event is a life-threatening event such as military combat, Natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD. PTSD

[iv] Jason Del Toro et al., The Criminogenic Effects of Police Stops on Adolescent Development, 116 Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci. 8261 (2019).

[v] Becker, Howard S. (Howard Saul), Outsiders; Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1^st ed. 1963).

[vi] Self-stigma refers to the negative attitudes, including internalized shame, that people with mental illness may have about their own condition. What is Self-Stigma?

[vii] Labelling Theory explained in the book Outsiders; Studies in the Sociology of Deviance.

[viii] The prefrontal cortex is the front part of your brain, right behind your forehead. It helps manage thinking, emotions and behavior by using executive functions. These are skills you rely on to plan, make decisions, solve problems, stay focused and adjust to new situations. What is Prefrontal cortex (PFC)?

[ix] Steinberg Laurence, Cognitive and Affective Development in Adolescence (1^st ed. 2005) & B J Casey, The Adolescent Brain (1^st ed. 2008).

[x] Terrie Moffit, Adolescence-Limited and Life-Course-Persistent Antisocial Behavior: A Development Taxonomy, 100 Psychol Rev. 674 (1993).

[xi] Felitti Vincent, Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults, 14 AJPM 245, (1998).

[xii] Ford D. Julian, Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Scientific Foundations and Therapeutic Models (1^st ed. 2013).

[xiii] Bowlby John, A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development (1^st ed. 1988)

Ajwa Shabir, a first year BA LLB (Hons) student at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and the Web Manager of Fairlex.