Social Exclusion
Executive Summary
The relevance of social exclusion in the context of criminal offending has been considered in R v Lewis [2014] NSWSC 1127 and Kentwell v R (No 2) [2015] NSWCCA 96.
‘Social exclusion’ refers to interpersonal and group-based processes through which individuals are rejected, ignored or ostracised. Social exclusion is a profound psychosocial stressor that undermines the fundamental human need to belong and causes significant physiological, cognitive, and behavioural impacts.
‘Social exclusion’ is not a closed category. It includes experiences of racism, discrimination, betrayal, bullying, humiliation, prejudice and stigmatisation. It can be explicit (such as outward rejection of the excluded person) or subtle (such as ignoring or neglecting them). Childhood emotional abuse, often involving profound and chronic rejection by caregivers, is associated with heightened sensitivity to rejection and an increased risk of suicidal ideation.
Research indicates that social exclusion is associated with increased aggression, risk taking and other self-defeating behaviours, impaired self-regulation, and reduced empathy. Chronic exclusion is associated with social resignation and ‘higher levels of negative emotions’, and may also create vulnerability to recruitment by extremist groups. Social exclusion and low social belonging are also associated with antisocial behaviour and contact with the criminal justice system. Further, imprisonment has been described as ‘a widespread form of social exclusion [which] often profoundly affects the physical and mental health of individuals’.
Certain groups ― such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with ADHD, people experiencing homelessness, and asylum seekers ― are more likely to experience social exclusion, and this is associated with underlying systemic inequality. For instance, the 2021 Australian Law Reform Commission Report, Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias, found that ‘52% of Aboriginal respondents had experienced racial prejudice in the previous six months, compared to 21% of the general community’.
On the other hand, as noted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘good social relationships can foster health, creativity, self-esteem, job satisfaction, cooperative behaviours and encourage social mobility and crime reduction’. Effective responses to socially excluded individuals include facilitating belonging by addressing the antecedents of belonging; evidence-based interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and cognitive bias modification (CBM); as well as community support, culturally sensitive programs, and policies addressing structural factors such as racism and economic inequality.