Rejection, Humiliation, and Parole: A Study of Parolees’ Perspectives

Research on status rejection has developed considerably over the past two decades and is applied in a number of different settings to better understand criminal and deviant behavior. Our research contributes to that body of work by examining the ways in which status rejection may create a potentially humiliating dynamic for individuals on parole. Specifically, we use in-depth interviews with parolees to illustrate how the parolee identity can promote the experience of status rejection and simultaneously foster conditions for humiliation — an emotional state that may impede one’s ability to both (re) construct a conventional identity and reintegrate back into one’s community.