Casper L⍤tter PhD (UFS)

Title of PhD thesis: The Integration of ex-offenders in South Africa based on the
Contemporary Chinese model: An Interdisciplinary Study

University of the Free State, Bloemfontein

CONTACT DETAILS: email address: casperlttr@gmail.com

Mobile number: 072 6789 228

ABSTRACT of PhD thesis

This study aims to understand the process of stigmatization, marginalization and
discrimination visited on ex-offenders after completion of their sentences. With reference
to scholars such as Foucault, Festinger and Lerner, I problematize the notion that ‘collateral
consequences’ (essentially stigma) should of necessity follow ex-offenders for the rest of
their lives. Instead of attempting yet another intervention project (most of which have
failed dismally), I have decided to discover what we can learn from the Chinese (and other
cultures) on integration – an idea vouched for by both Habermas and Durkheim. This work
is an interdisciplinary study since it is a ‘complex problem’ which requires as many inputs
as possible and consequently I strive to be as inclusive as possible. To this end, I also make
eclectic use of theory as opposed to a thorough-going singular theoretical application. This
inclusivity also relates to my sources, where I have consulted scholars of both the twentieth
and the twenty-first centuries who have had something of value to say on the matter. In
this respect, John Braithwaite’s seminal distinction between ‘integrative shaming’ and
‘stigmatizing shaming’ cultures was invaluable. The former prevents crime by resettling ex-
offenders while the latter is ‘criminogenic’ and ‘counter-productive’ by driving ex-offenders
away from mainstream culture through stigma. In this process the societal management of
shame (resulting in either integration or stigma) has profound consequences. South Africa,
a stigmatizing shaming culture, has rates of recidivism of between 85%-94% while the
Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC), an integrative shaming culture, presents only 6%-8%. My
research problem is how to integrate returning ex-offenders in South Africa’s stigmatizing

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shaming culture, based on the contemporary Chinese model, i.e. how to incorporate the
best features of an integrative shaming culture into a stigmatizing shaming culture,
specifically onto home soil in post-apartheid South Africa (if this proves to be possible). In
order to enable the transplantation process both in time and space (an idea gleaned from
Derrida), I have developed nine tools to assist me with this procedure. These tools may be
of value to other researchers who may wish to duplicate the procedure along a different
trajectory. By employing ‘secondary data analysis’ as my tool of data collection, I consider a
number of original field work studies which were done in the PRC relating to the period
1949-1996, when the integrative shaming culture on the mainland was at its peak. In my
penultimate chapter but one I come to the realization that certain features of stigmatizing
shaming cultures (these societies’ ‘diseased’ nature, the prison-industrial-complex, the
‘selfish’ society and their inability to grasp its own ‘desire’, etc.) preclude the sensible
fusing of these two cultures, which might well be impossible because the respective
‘natures’ (selfish vs caring) of these two societies are mutually exclusive. As a result, I
develop a number of devices to complement the successful transplantation of certain
features and to enhance the well-being of both ex-offenders and offenders alike. These are:
an examination of the desire to integrate, self-confidence, self-esteem, trust and Victor
Frankl’s idea of ‘paradoxical intensity’. I bolster this exercise by first building a case, based
on Foucault’s well-known notion, for the ‘care of the self’. I conclude that while integration
is an important issue of concern to both Critical Criminology and Critical Theory (in the
tradition of the Frankfurt School), as my work straddles these two central disciplines, this
course may not be possible for the present and, moreover, is not the only way to grow
desistence (and foreclose recidivism) among ex-offenders. Instead, measures aimed at
growing their well-being may be more effective and indeed make more sense politically.

Key words: Integration, ex-offenders, recidivism, stigmatizing shaming cultures,

bbbbbbbbbbbintegrative shaming cultures, societal management of shame,
bbbbbbbbbbbtransplantation of ideas in time and space, the Peoples’ Republic of China
bbbbbbbbbbb(PRC), home soil (South Africa), well-being