Experiences of shame and empathy in violent and non-violent young offenders

Youth offending is one of society's most pressing problems and the development of our understanding in this area is of paramount importance. Shame and empathy are believed to play a role in offending; however, research investigating these concepts in the young offender population is limited and further work is necessary to investigate their role within this neglected group. Using a sample of 80 violent and nonviolent male young offenders, this study investigated whether there were any differences between experiences of shame and empathy in these groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the levels of shame they experienced. There was, however, a significant difference between the groups in their levels of empathy, with violent young offenders experiencing lower levels of empathy. This result has implications for young offender treatment programmes, with particular emphasis on differentiating violent and non-violent offenders.