Conscience (internalized norms) and attachments to significant others (broadly defined to include friends, family, etc.) are proposed to potentially influence criminality by decreasing the expected utility of crime. The internalization of a norm poses the threat of guilt feelings or shame for doing something which the person considers morally wrong. Shame can be considered a form of potential self-imposed or reflective punishment. The greater the perceived threat of shame, the lower the expected utility of crime, and the less the likelihood that crime will occur. Embarrassment was investigated as another punishment which decreases the expected utility of crime and is a socially-imposed punishment. The research involved developing parallel measures of the perceived threats of shame, embarrassment, and legal sanctions for three illegal behaviors: tax cheating, petty theft, and drunk driving. The results of a sample of adults and adolescents showed that embarrassment has a greater effect on adolescents than on adults. The findings for the threat of socially-imposed embarrassment appear to be inconsistent with the rational decision-making model for adults. However, the threats of shame and of legal sanctions were seen to inhibit the inclination to commit a crime. 3 tables, 9 footnotes, and 66 references (Author abstract modified)