University of St. Thomas Law Journal

Is Anna Allowed to Reinvent Herself? What Anna Delvey’s Controversial DWTS Debut Tells Us About Criminal Record Stigmatization

By Tess Register*

On September 17, 2024, Anna Delvey made her first appearance on Dancing with the Stars (DWTS), a reality competition show that follows celebrities as they train with professional dance partners to perform various styles of ballroom dance live each week.1 Delvey delivered the final performance of season thirty-three’s opening episode, executing a competent cha-cha with her partner Ezra Soza, who had meticulously bedazzled Delvey’s ankle monitor during rehearsals.2 While their dance was not flawlessly executed, Delvey and Soza received a respectable score of eighteen out of thirty points after a tense exchange with the judges.3

DWTS features three permanent judges: Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli,4 each of whom are veteran choreographers and/or ballroom dancers.5 “A-A-Anna,” former DWTS pro dancer Derek Hough stuttered after Delvey and Soza’s performance.6 “I’m actually at a loss for words right now because you actually have the capacity to be a really beautiful dancer. . . . Overall, I was kind of surprised, I’m a little lost for words right now to be honest.”7 “Reinventing Anna yet again!” Bruno Tonioli shouted, referencing the 2022 Netflix special Inventing Anna based on Delvey, who was described as “the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts and money of New York elites.”8

“And it could be working!” Tonioli encouraged, reiterating Hough’s surprised statement that Delvey had potential as a dancer.9 Noting the “shift in the energy” when Delvey appeared to perform, Inaba encouraged viewers to “give [Delvey] a chance” and “focus on the dancing.”10 “I’m not pro or for [or] against anything that you’ve done, but this is about your dancing here,” Inaba told a rattled Delvey, who was side-eying her confused-looking partner.11 “Let’s all give her that space, please!”12 As the audience clapped politely and the show’s theme music began to play, Delvey and Soza exited the dance floor to receive their scores. Despite beseeching viewers to “focus on the dancing,” Inaba had neglected to give Delvey any feedback on her performance.13

Social media comments similarly deviated from Delvey’s dancing, with many users threatening to boycott DWTS until Delvey was eliminated.14 Many expressed the belief that the show and network had “made a significant ethical misstep by giving Delvey a larger platform” given her criminal history.15 In 2019, Anna Delvey was sentenced to prison after a jury convicted her of three counts of grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, and four misdemeanor charges of theft of service after Delvey defrauded New York elites and businesses, stealing a total of $275,000.16 Upon her release in 2021, Delvey was detained by ICE for another eighteen months for allegedly overstaying her visa.17 She has been on house arrest since 2022 pending the outcome of her immigration case; however, she was given “special permission” by ICE to travel to compete on Dancing with the Stars.18

Delvey’s stint on the show was brief, as she was promptly eliminated in the second episode.19 When host Julianne Hough asked what she would take away from her time on DWTS, Delvey simply replied, “[n]othing.”20 Predictably, this deadpan response reignited the backlash against Delvey’s appearance on the show, with many—including judge Carrie Ann Inaba—slamming Delvey for her “dismissive” response.21 “We all put in the effort to give her a fair opportunity,” Inaba explained.22 “But I don’t think she could see that and it’s a shame. A little gratitude could have changed the narrative.”23 Assumedly, Inaba was referring to the public’s narrative regarding whether Delvey deserved to be cast on DWTS. Although some viewers maintained that Anna Delvey deserved a second chance, many voiced quite the opposite.24 As one user wrote on the social media platform X: “[T]his is dancing with the stars [sic], not dancing with the felons.”25

The backlash to Anna Delvey’s ballroom dancing debut and debate over whether she deserved to be cast on Dancing with the Stars in the first place illustrates how members of the public perceive individuals with criminal records and reflects shifting opinions on who within that group deserves the chance to reinvent themselves—and how. In the United States especially, felons have been a historically disenfranchised group whose members have increased over time due to mass incarceration.26 In terms of incarceration rates, the United States is an outlier internationally, as every US state incarcerates more people per capita than most nations.27 In addition to those who are incarcerated, approximately one in fifty-three adults is under community supervision; specifically, probation or parole.28 This combination of mass incarceration and subsequent mass probation in the United States has elevated the number of individuals with criminal records,29 while public opinion on the criminal legal system has fluctuated with the perceived seriousness of crime.30

According to a 2023 Gallup poll, fifty-eight percent of Americans believe the criminal legal system is not tough enough in how it handles crime, up from forty-one percent in 2020.31 Only fourteen percent of adults in the US think the system is too tough, while twenty-six percent state that it is “about right” in its handling of crime.32 In contrast, when Gallup conducted the same poll in 2020, the number of Americans who viewed the criminal legal system as too harsh was trending upward, while the number of Americans who believed the opposite decreased significantly from the previous survey in 2016.33 This shift may be attributable to a perceived increase in crime; since 2021, concerns about crime rates have increased among members of both political parties.34 While violent and overall crime rates have fallen sharply since the 1990s, the murder rate in the United States “saw its largest single-year increase on record” in 2020, remaining elevated throughout 2022.35 “Americans tend to believe crime is up, even when official data shows it is down”;36 in other words, members of the public are likely to perceive crime is more prevalent and poses a greater threat than it does in reality. This tendency, paired with the recent short-term increase of violent crime, suggests that the shift in public opinion toward viewing the criminal legal system as too lenient may correlate to crime being perceived as more serious and pervasive.

Although more research is needed, these attitudes appear to translate to individuals who have been involved with the criminal legal system.37 In a 2018 survey of 198 adults with felony and/or misdemeanor convictions, respondents expressed a shared belief that the general public looks down on those who have criminal records, with many reporting that they had personally experienced multiple forms of discrimination based on their histories.38 While many participants did not necessarily “see themselves as flawed just because they had a criminal record,” they still reported feeling pressured to withdraw from other people and conceal their pasts due to the broader societal stigma surrounding it.39 This pressure to withdraw extended to respondents’ perceived inability to seek out new opportunities,40 since criminal record stigma “in the digital era [means that] any record—no matter how old or minor—can stand in the way of reentry, economic stability, and full participation in society.”41 While some might say that, like the criminal acts themselves, the people who commit them should be subject to a certain level of public stigma, there is evidence to suggest that retributive approaches to punishment fail to effectively address crime.42

Retributive theories of punishment rest on the principle that “there is a morally deserved punishment for each crime” based on the level of harm an offender causes and their culpability in committing the offense.43 Essentially, “commit the crime, do the time.” However, the critical difference between punishment and restraint is often obscured, especially in the context of the criminal legal system.44 When people pose a danger to themselves or others, it may be appropriate to restrain them or separate them from others for their own protection.45 This is distinct from punishment, which seeks to inflict a degree of pain “for the sake of revenge or to teach [] a lesson.”46 Decades of research has shown that the more severely people are punished, the more violent they become.47 This principle translates from the prison context to the process of reentry. While criminal record stigmatization often separates former offenders from society, it does so to inflict pain, rather than to restrain or even attempt to support rehabilitation for an underlying issue or unmet need that may have led them to offend in the first place.48

But what do these theories and findings have to do with Anna Delvey? The backlash she faced after appearing on DWTS exemplifies the public stigma directed at people convicted of felonies, at a time when crime is perceived to be at an all-time high, driving further stigmatization of individuals with criminal records. It also highlights an issue with how the media can skew public perceptions by overrepresenting crime, underrepresenting the problems associated with the criminal legal system, and downplaying or downright obscuring the efforts many individuals take to rehabilitate themselves. For example, when Delvey’s casting was announced, hosts on the talk show Good Morning America slammed the decision, inaccurately claiming that Delvey “still owe[d] people money,” even though she has completely paid her restitution.49 Host Alyssa Farah Griffin went so far as to say that she “[was not here for] a rehabilitation arc.”50 This is just one example of frequent mischaracterizations portrayed by the media. These depictions can be damaging, creating an impression that offenders never make amends for their offenses (even when they do), driving the belief that former offenders are never worthy of reintegration into society, and feeding criminal record stigmatization.

While Anna Delvey admitted that her felony record could raise legitimate concerns about her ability to practice some professions,51 ballroom dancing is not one of them. While there is room for nuance in discussing whether DWTS’s decision to cast Delvey as a celebrity contestant could glamorize her legally dubious path to fame, her felony record should not automatically bar her from appearing in the public eye or participating in opportunities within broader society. Yes, she committed a crime, but she did her time, she paid her restitution, and she—as well as others who have progressed past their criminal records—deserves the chance to reinvent herself.

* Tess Register, J.D. Candidate, University of St. Thomas School of Law Class of 2025, Submissions Editor of the University of St. Thomas Law Journal.

  1. See Dancing with the Stars, ABC (last visited Oct. 9, 2024), https://abc.com/show/f66d60e7-29f2-49cf-85dd-44a11bce42e4/about-the-show [https://perma.cc/QCF9-BFRF]. ↩︎
  2. Dancing with the Stars: Premiere (ABC television broadcast Sept. 17, 2024). ↩︎
  3. Id.; see also Jennifer Zhan, Everything Anna Delvey Did on Dancing with the Stars, Vulture (Sept. 25, 2024), https://www.vulture.com/article/anna-delvey-dancing-with-the-stars.html [https://perma.cc/PQN5-MUVR]. ↩︎
  4. Denise Petski, ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Confirms Judges for Season 33, Deadline (Aug. 13, 2024), https://deadline.com/2024/08/dancing-with-the-stars-judges-season-33-1236038888/ [https://perma.cc/RN46-8SXA]. ↩︎
  5. See Carrie Ann Inaba, CAPE (last visited Oct. 14, 2024), https://www.capeusa.org/carrie-ann-inaba [https://perma.cc/MUQ9-CLGB]; Caroline Schneider, The Rise and Journey of Derek Hough: From Dancer to Actor and Beyond, Hollywood Insider (Feb. 23, 2022), https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/derek-hough-biography/ [https://perma.cc/3UB7-Z4DV]; Bruno Tonioli, ABC (last visited Oct. 13, 2024), https://abc.com/cast/63fcf808-cf6f-4762-9c80-d5fcf14db140 [https://perma.cc/T43S-KUGE]. ↩︎
  6. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  7. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  8. Inventing Anna (Netflix Feb. 11, 2022). ↩︎
  9. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  10. Zhan, supra note 3. ↩︎
  11. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  12. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2; see also Zhan, supra note 3. ↩︎
  13. See Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  14. Jay Stahl & Taijuan Moorman, Anna Delvey’s ‘DWTS’ Run Ends in Elimination: She Never Stood a Chance Against Critics, USAToday (Sept. 25, 2024), https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/09/25/anna-delvey-eliminated-dwts/75373776007/ [https://perma.cc/QMP9-54AH]. ↩︎
  15. Anna Delvey: Dancer or Felon?, The Art | Crime Archive (Oct. 1, 2024), https://artcrimearchive.net/2024/10/01/anna-delvey-dancer-or-felon/ [https://perma.cc/W6HX-J54U]. ↩︎
  16. Eve Batey, Anna Delvey Waltzes Out of Prison and Into Dancing with the Stars: Report, Vanity Fair (Aug. 31, 2024), https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/anna-delvey-dancing-with-the-stars [https://perma.cc/C7RF-AKXK]; see also Jay Stahl, Reinventing Anna Delvey: Does She Deserve a Chance on ‘Dancing with the Stars’?, USA Today (Sept. 24, 2024), https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/09/24/anna-delvey-dancing-with-the-stars-dwts/75310057007/ [https://perma.cc/QH2U-5M9P]. ↩︎
  17. Batey, supra note 15. ↩︎
  18. Batey, supra note 15. ↩︎
  19. Dancing with the Stars, supra note 2. ↩︎
  20. Dancing with the Stars: Oscars Night (ABC television broadcast Sept. 24, 2024). ↩︎
  21. Mason Lieb, ‘DWTS’ Judge Says ‘Gratitude’ Could Have Been Used in Anna Delvey’s Exit Comment, ABC NEWS (Sept. 26, 2024), https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/dwts-judge-carrie-ann-inaba-reacts-anna-delveys/story?id=114186180 [https://perma.cc/4A9J-XJGR]. ↩︎
  22. Tionah Lee, Dancing with the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba Slams Anna Delvey Over “Dismissive” Exit, E! Online
     (Sept. 26, 2024), https://www.eonline.com/news/1407835/dancing-with-the-stars-carrie-ann-inaba-slams-anna-delvey-over-dismissive-exit [https://perma.cc/LC2R-WD6P]. ↩︎
  23. Id. ↩︎
  24. See Stahl, supra note 15. ↩︎
  25. Jay Stahl, Anna Delvey on ‘DWTS’ Leaves Fans, Whoopi Goldberg Outraged by the Convicted Scam Artist, USA Today (Sept. 24, 2024), https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2024/09/05/anna-delvey-dancing-with-the-stars/75090061007/ [https://perma.cc/NK5T-FSDD]. ↩︎
  26. See generally Ryan Larson, Sarah Shannon, Aaron Sojourner & Chris Uggen, Felon History and Change in U.S. Employment Rates, 103 Soc. Sci. Rsch., Mar. 2022, at 1. ↩︎
  27. Emily Widra, States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2024, Prison Pol’y Initiative (June 2024), https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2024.html [https://perma.cc/RGT8-RWN6]. ↩︎
  28. Larson et al., supra note 25. ↩︎
  29. Larson et al., supra note 25. As of 2010, the most recent year analyzed in this data set, over nineteen million people in the United States had felony criminal convictions. ↩︎
  30. Megan Brenan, Americans More Critical of U.S. Criminal Justice System, Gallup (Nov. 16, 2023), https://news.gallup.com/poll/544439/americans-critical-criminal-justice-system.aspx [https://perma.cc/4R6F-HXM6]. ↩︎
  31. Id. ↩︎
  32. Id. ↩︎
  33. Megan Brenan, Fewer Americans Call for Tougher Criminal Justice System, Gallup (Nov. 16, 2020), https://news.gallup.com/poll/324164/fewer-americans-call-tougher-criminal-justice-system.aspx [https://perma.cc/NPD2-HWX3]. ↩︎
  34. John Gramlich, What the Data Says About Crime in the U.S., Pew Rsch. Ctr. (Apr. 24, 2024), https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/24/what-the-data-says-about-crime-in-the-us/ [https://perma.cc/WZD3-LDQP]. ↩︎
  35. Id. ↩︎
  36. Id. ↩︎
  37. Elaina R. McWilliams & Bronwyn A. Hunter, The Impact of Criminal Record Stigma on Quality of Life: A Test of Theoretical Pathways, 67 Am. J. Cmty. Psych., Mar. 2021, at 89, 91 (“More research is needed to confirm whether the theoretical connections that have been supported across stigmatized groups also occur among individuals who have criminal records.”); id. at 99 (“Future research should explore the position of discrimination within criminal record stigma models to assure its impact is fully captured.”). ↩︎
  38. Id. at 98–100. ↩︎
  39. Id. at 99. ↩︎
  40. See id. ↩︎
  41. Rebecca Vallas, Sharon Dietrich & Beth Avery, A Criminal Record Shouldn’t Be a Life Sentence to Poverty, Ctr. for Am. Progress (May 28, 2021), https://www.americanprogress.org/article/criminal-record-shouldnt-life-sentence-poverty-2/ [https://perma.cc/EJ22-M8A8]. ↩︎
  42. See James Gilligan, Punishment Fails, Rehabilitation Works, N.Y. Times (Dec. 19, 2012), https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/18/prison-could-be-productive/punishment-fails-rehabilitation-works [https://perma.cc/E2WS-GYLC]. ↩︎
  43. Göran Duus-Otterström, Retributivism and Public Opinion: On the Context Sensitivity of Desert, 12 Crim. L. & Phil. 125, 126, 129 (2018). ↩︎
  44. See Gilligan, supra note 41. ↩︎
  45. Gilligan, supra note 41. ↩︎
  46. Gilligan, supra note 41 (internal quotations omitted). ↩︎
  47. Gilligan, supra note 41. ↩︎
  48. See Gilligan, supra note 41. ↩︎
  49. Greg Evans, Whoopi Goldberg & ‘The View’ Cohosts Slam ‘DWTS’ Casting of Con Artist Anna Delvey, Deadline (Sept. 5, 2024), https://deadline.com/2024/09/whoopi-goldberg-anna-delvey-the-view-dancing-with-the-stars-1236078891/ [https://perma.cc/WBF3-MR7F]. ↩︎
  50. Id. ↩︎
  51. When an interviewer asked Delvey if she had ever considered becoming a lawyer, Delvey replied, “Hmm, I’m kind of a felon . . . . Not sure felons can be admitted to the bar.” Tatiana Siegel, Reinventing Anna Delvey: How House Arrest, Being Hated and Yearning for Freedom is Changing the Scammer, Variety (Aug. 15, 2023), https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/anna-delvey-interview-house-arrest-felonies-freedom-1235695552/ [https://perma.cc/SN5J-2NMN]. ↩︎

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