An investigation into shame in forensic services

Shame is a prevalent emotion in criminal justice system populations, particularly for women. Shame is known to impact on aspects of offender’s life such as wellbeing and recidivism, however currently there are no reviews aiming to understand the impact of shame for female offenders. This review therefore aimed to understand the current literature around the impact of experiencing shame on females under the care of criminal justice services. This review took a narrative format and synthesised both qualitative and quantitative papers. Eight papers were found and five themes were identified as commonalities for female offenders experiencing shame; relationships, recidivism, substance misuse, societal stigma and self-regulation. A critical appraisal of all studies was conducted, and the implications of this quality discussed. Together it could be seen that shame impacted on several areas of female offender’s experiences. Clinical and research implications of the review were discussed, as well as directions for future research. Due to the difficult impact that shame can have, interventions to help female offenders cope with shame were discussed. Future research should further explore the impact of shame for female offenders, particularly in terms of implications for recovery. More research should also investigate the impact of shame cross-culturally.