Prisoner as Scapegoat: Some Skeptical Remarks on Present Penal Policy

• NCJ Number: 198681
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 35 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2002 Pages: 249-257
• Author(s): T. J. Gorringe
• Editor(s): Thomas P. O'Connor, Nathaniel J. Pallone
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For related articles see NCJ-198670-80 and NCJ-198682.

Annotation

This article discusses the scapegoat theory as it has developed over the years and its relationship and similarities to prisons and inmates and present penal policy.

Abstract

Scapegoat theory has been largely developed over the past 40 years by the French cultural anthropologist Rene Girard. In order to survive, societies find ways of limiting violence, hence the scapegoat theory mechanism. A society channels all of its anger, rage, and aggression on to one single victim, the scapegoat. However, while this scapegoat mechanism delivers from violence it then institutionalizes violence as a way of dealing with conflict. Retributive justice or imprisonment is similar to the mechanism of scapegoating by dealing with aggression by aggression. However, there can be no rehabilitating of inmates without the community. Prisons and their prisoners are part of the community requiring inclusion and the practice of forgiveness and must be recognized as such. The bottom line of penal policy is that we are all members one of another.