Outer-Legal Self and Inner-Moral Self

This chapter considers the importance of managing an individual’s stigmatisation, by reviewing the pleas made in court by the offenders, compared to their own personal belief in their guilt. They may go through a number of stages in admitting their guilt over the period of their offending and incarceration. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 examine how they viewed their crime, from their original motivation through to the assessment, when imprisoned, of their gains and losses. However, the first matter considered here is how they viewed their offence when choosing to plead guilty or not guilty in court.