Rethinking the status degradation ceremony: a Meadian account of a juvenile sentencing process
The concept of status degradation ceremonies has been broadly applied to processes within the criminal and juvenile justice systems. This article challenges a distorted understanding of Garfinkel’s original concept that has emerged among researchers in the labeling theory and restorative justice tra...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Criminal justice studies
Year: 2025, Volume: 38, Issue: 2, Pages: 160-178 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | The concept of status degradation ceremonies has been broadly applied to processes within the criminal and juvenile justice systems. This article challenges a distorted understanding of Garfinkel’s original concept that has emerged among researchers in the labeling theory and restorative justice traditions – namely, that status degradation ceremonies necessarily result in the experience of stigmatizing shame. The author presents a theoretical alternative based on the symbolic interactionist theory of Mead. Drawing on ethnographic field notes from the observation of 33 closed-door juvenile sentencing meetings from one state’s juvenile justice system, the author presents evidence of the ways in which these formal interactions model the expectations of the morally responsible self in the context of a status degradation ceremony. |
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| ISSN: | 1478-6028 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/1478601X.2025.2508071 |