How bad do you feel about it? The parallel mediation role of guilt and shame in promoting prisoners’ intention to change

Considering that the moral emotions of guilt and shame play both a preventive role in helping people avoid breaking moral norms, as well as a restorative role after transgressing them, in this study we examine a sample of incarcerated women (N = 115) and men (N = 235) regarding very relevant variables for their reintegration into society, that is, (1) personal responsibility for their crimes, (2) the associated emotional reactions of shame and guilt, and (3) their future intention to change. Our results showed that women scored higher than men in responsibility, guilt, and intention to change, but not in shame, as it also was expected. Despite these differences, in both samples guilt fully mediated the assumed and desired relationship between personal responsibility for the committed crimes and the intention to change, whereas shame did not. A common mechanism for both genders showed the positive role of guilt in promoting behavioral change in individuals confronting with their past criminal actions.