Responding to denial, minimization and blame in correctional settings: The ‘real world’ implications of offender neutralizations

Abstract

This article examines ‘real-world’ implications of offender neutralizations. Drawing on empirical evidence derived from a study of the operation of community-based cognitive-behavioural programmes for perpetrators of domestic violence, it focuses on the implications, for offenders, of displaying neutralizations in correctional treatment settings. This article draws attention to the complex relationship between neutralization and correctional group work practice. First, it demonstrates that neutralization of offending does not always have the negative implications for offenders that have been assumed by some commentators. Neutralization may not preclude enrolment on to a correctional programme, is not always challenged in a confrontational way by practitioners and does not automatically result in suspension and the application of more punitive criminal sanctions. Second, the article demonstrates the difficulties that practitioners and participants face in tackling neutralizations in this context. Our findings suggest a need to rethink the central role that neutralizations play in aspects of contemporary criminal justice practice.