A consideration in to the policy and practicalities of reintegrating Sex offenders.
Despite the fact that sex offenders have lower re-offending rates compared to any other type of offenders, the publics’ fear of sex offenders is still quite high (Harris and Hanson, 2004 cited in Fox, 2017). However more recently various legislative measures have been placed in especially both the US and UK which are believed to reduce the chances of re-offending. An example to illustrate this is in the US where restrictions are set on residency, community and sex offender registries have been put in place and to a huge extent this has increased public support (Leverson, Brannon, Fortney and Baker, 2007). Whereas in the UK this is similarly the case with sex offenders. By placing sex offenders on registries also means that they are at an increased risk of vigilante attacks. In the case of sex offenders, vigilantism can take place in the form of social exclusion or retribution, and so by having registration/ community notification of sex offenders it can be argued that public stigmatisation, social isolation is increased when names and addresses of sex offenders are released within the community. Provided the environment of supervised circumstances in which sex offenders are subject to upon their release in to the community is a topical discussion, but also a huge concern for policy makers and more importantly professionals working with sex offenders. It can strongly be argued that the punitive measures which have been placed for sex offenders have increased over the last decade or so (Motivans and Kyckelham, 2007) and the registration and community notification of sex offenders within the US and UK clearly demonstrates this. Haney (2002) clarifies that such measures can have a detrimental impact on a sex offenders’ capability in transitioning back in to a community in terms of carrying on with relationships whether it be a family or an employment based one. On the other hand, the integral support that could perhaps contribute towards reducing the risk of re-offending in sex offenders seems unlikely, nor could they be easily established. Although an attempt in doing so was established- an integration model which helped address the support and accountability of sex offenders. This is known as the CoSA (Circle of Support and Accountability) model, aiding to create a support community for high risk sex offenders serving longer sentences in Canada (Fox, 2017). This was further developed to in order to amplify community safety and provide some form of assurance to the public in fear (Hannam and Petrunik, 2007). This model has been successful within both the US and UK. During the course of this essay a discussion will be made addressing the social exclusion sex offenders may face upon re-integration and this can be from anything as big as policies which may hinder their re-integration process, to anything as simple as the contradictive society which vilifies sex offenders upon re-integration, yet the same society which expects sex offenders to reform also. Based on the above it will be concluded that as a society we are moving towards a risk based approach in the punishment of sex offenders. However in saying so there is also the assumption that even with practise, past behaviour is used a key focus when addressing sex offenders, perhaps emphasis should be placed on the present progressing towards the future because this raises all sorts of arising questions in to how can sex offenders be expected to reintegrate in to a society which demands reform yet, at the same time holds their past behaviour against them? Unfortunately, it would appear that it is this standpoint on sex offenders which can act as hindrance to their re-integration process.
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The CoSA model was developed when
it was found that it had an enormous impact on recidivism (Wilson, Pichea and Prinzo, 2005). Since then the CoSA model has
been established in several countries (Rensburg,
2012) e.g. the US although this program was originally set out in Canada,
the two between them have different environments because it is believed that
the US submits more to public pressure in order to adopt restrictive policies (Petrunik and Deutschmann, 2008).
Nevertheless the program is deemed to provide support and accountability
compared to restricted supervision which focuses on compliance and restrictions
(accountability in this case). Alternatively, it is alleged that CoSA does
enforce accountability, but within a supportive relationship (Fox, 2016; Hannem, 2013). Based on this
it can be depicted that the strength with this reintegration model is found
within the relationships that are built between sex offenders and members at
the program. Fox (2010) points out
that it is within such normative relationship a ‘moral authority’ is
established. On the other hand, a
limitation is found with this program because of the way they are carried out
in different places. This can be slightly problematic especially where some
places may not have circles of support for sex offenders. For instance, one
place may very well only use the circles of support for sex offenders who are
serving longer sentences, and so this can be seen as defeating the object since
the CoSA program was initially set up to support all sex offenders regardless
of the severity in the punishment being served.
The challenges of reintegrating sex
offenders are much more common as we know, infact many have criticised the view
of sex offenders being released in to the community without supervision or
support in the first place. This is possibly down two colliding factors;
political power and the increase in public pressure from victims’ movements and
the general concerned public in the decline of the rehabilitation aspect of
punishment in relation to sex offenders.
Fox (2017) highlights that a
paradigm has come into sight which focuses on the protection for the community
from such vilified offenders. Based on this viewpoint it is believed that
measures taken including community protection were formed especially and
starting with the US however, at the same time it can be pointed out that this
can affect a sex offenders’ capability in being able to reintegrate back in to
the community. The most punitive measures, again, is perhaps the sex offender
registries and community notification policies. It is assumed that in a country
where the sex offender registration is still a topical matter of debate it
still has arguably increasing numbers of sex offenders. Public fear would
significantly hinder community integration, but the punitive measures (as
previously mentioned) which restrict sex offenders do not appear to make
reintegration any simpler, rather it has the opposite, detrimental effect on
the reintegration of sex offenders.
Over the last decade, literature on
desistance from crime has flourished. So far research on desistance has focused
on external factors of offenders for example, marriage and employment (Sampson and Laub, 1993) or the internal
motivators for instance, the narrative identity change that takes place via
means or through forms of encouragement
(Maruna, 2001; Mc Neil, 2006). Therefore it would appear that literature on
desistance is centred on factors which contribute towards the time periods of
desistance in crime. In essence, a new identity is established (Farrall and
Calverly, 2006). It has been implied that desistance is a result of an
opportunity to establish a new narrative in which is non-criminal. Mc Neil
(2010) suggests that as well as primary desistance, territory desistance is
the enduring type to come from a sense of belonging. In the case of sex
offenders however, what is made unclear is how they can encourage a sense of
belonging where requirements are to be carried out under supervision/
registries.
In respect of sex offenders, the
challenges of reintegration back in to community life are much larger because
of the public attitudes on sex offenders and the restrictive supervision sex
offenders have to experience which can further isolate them. Having said that,
there are treatment programmes which can promote desistance however it appears
that they fail to address the sense of belonging within the community. This
shows that the reintegration process and not the treatment process is
problematic when addressing the needs of sex offenders. There is the
implication that there is a need for a reintegration design which will be able
to address the needs of sex offenders because there support for sex offenders
is lacking. It can be pointed out that the CoSA model has been able to assist
sex offenders towards territory desistance by structuring constant social
support and sense of belonging found within the community. Nevertheless Ward and Brown (2004) suggest that a shift is needed away from a
risk avoidance approach to instead a positive assistance to individual needs,
or in other words, a humanistic approach. This therefore leads to the Good
Lives Model (Ward and Gannon, 2006)
which would recognise such individualistic needs and more importantly, aims to
focus on the strengths of the sex offender and by doing so essentially improves
wellbeing. Not only this, but a provision of a non-judgmental social support
service would be provided to sex offenders (Fox,
2017) and this in all would assist the intangible outcomes sex offenders
require.
During the course of this
discussion it has been pointed out that although sex offenders do have lower
re-offending rates compared to any other offenders, public fear of sex
offenders still is quite high (Harris and
Hanson, 2004 cited in Fox, 2017). It is this public fear of sex offenders
which feeds in to various legislative measures taking place, both within the US
and UK as much as they are believed to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
Restrictions sex offenders have been placed on e.g. community and sex offender
registries have gained much of public support (Leverson, Brannon, Fortney and
Baker, 2007). By obliging sex offenders on registries means that they are at an
increased risk of vigilantism and this is believed to have a huge impact on the
reintegration of sex offenders because of the social exclusion or retribution
that occurs, and so by having registration/ community notification of sex
offenders it is argued that public stigmatisation, social isolation is
amplified. Haney (2002) backs this up
in entailing that measures have a detrimental impact on a sex offenders’
capability in transitioning back in to a community in terms of carrying on with
relationships whether it be a family or an employment based one. It is seen
that there is integral support that could perhaps contribute towards reducing
the risk of re-offending in sex offenders however this seems unlikely. It has
been proven that that the social exclusion sex offenders face upon
re-integration from anything as big as policies which appears to hinder their
re-integration process, to anything as simple as the contradictive society
which has vilified sex offenders during the course of the re-integration
process, yet this is the same society which expects sex offenders to reform.
This further implies that as society we are moving towards a risk based
approach in the punishment of sex offenders and raises one particular question;
how can sex offenders be expected to reintegrate in to a society which demands
reform, yet at the same time holds their past behaviour against them? As
unfortunate as this may seem it would come into sight that it is this
standpoint on sex offenders which has and still continues to serve as a
hindrance to their re-integration process.
References
Levenson, J. S., Brannon, Y. N., Fortney, T., & Baker,
J. (2007). Public perceptions about sex
offenders and community protection policies. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy.7.137-161.
doi:10.1111/j.1530-2415.2007.00119.
Maruna, S. (2001). Making good: How ex-convicts reform and
rebuild their lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McNeill, F. (2006). A desistance paradigm for offender
management. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6, 39-62.
Motivans, M., &
Kyckelhahn, T. (2007). Federal prosecution of child sex exploitation
offenders, 2006. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of
Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
McNeill, F., &
Weaver, B. (2010). Changing lives?
Desistance research and offender management.Glasgow: Scottish
Hannem, S. (2013). Experiences in reconciling risk management
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Farrall, S., &
Calverley, A. (2006). Understanding desistance from crime: Theoretical
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Fox, K. (2010). Second chances: A comparison of civic
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Fox, K. (2016). Civic commitment: Promoting desistance
through community integration.Punishment &
Society.18(1):
68-94.
Fox, K. (2017). Contextualising the policy and pragmatics of
Reintegrating sex offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and
Treatment. 29(1): 28–50.
Hannem, S., & Petrunik, M. (2007). Circles of Support and Accountability: A community justice initiative for the reintegration of high-risk sex offenders. Contemporary Justice Review, 10, 153-171.
Sampson, R. J., &
Laub, J. H. (1993). Crime in the
making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Ward, T & Gannon,
A. T. (2005). Rehabilitation, etiology,
and self-regulation: The comprehensive good lives model of treatment for sexual
offenders. Agression and Violent Behavior 11: 77 – 94.
Petrunik, M., & Deutschmann, L. (2008). The exclusion–inclusion spectrum in state and community response to sex offenders in Anglo-American and European jurisdictions.International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 52, 499-519.
Van Rensburg, J.
(2012). The dawn of Circles of Support
and Accountability in New Zealand.Sexual Abuse in Australia and New
Zealand, 4, 53-58.
Wilson, R. J., Picheca,
J. E., & Prinzo, M. (2005). Circles of Support & Accountability: An
evaluation of the pilot project in South-Central Ontario (Research Report R-168). Ottawa.Ontario:
Correctional Service of Canada.
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