Abstract
Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control studies the narratives of six sex offenders who have violated against minors and live in the free community. In doing so, they consider their processing through the criminal justice system and how it stigmatizes them and further labels them as deviant. Rickard studies how their label impacts their sense of self and highlights their efforts to find meaning postlabel and offense. Rickard constructs her text through the prism of the “new penology” which minimizes the rehabilitative ideal and highlights the net-widening of sex offender laws and policies. Through the men’s narratives, she investigates how their disproportionate sentences, punishments, and the stigma of offending against a minor complicate their ability to live normal, prosocial lives in the community.
Chapter 1 begins by framing the men’s narratives within a system of legislation based on emotion and moral panics. She highlights this with an emphasis on the collateral consequences of having the label “sex offender.” These consequences include degraded civil status, invisible punishments (e.g., sex offender registries), and disintegrative shaming. Shaming is often done through media outlets which present sex offenders as horrific, regardless of where their offenses fall on the continuum of behaviors.
Chapter 2 presents the men’s individual stories including personal histories, events leading up to their offense, and ultimately the violation that put them in contact with the criminal justice system. She acknowledges that she is looking to find a counternarrative or the “real truth” of what really happened as she found herself questioning certain accounts of their stories, showing reflexivity. Nonetheless, I found her portrayal of her respondents as fair and without judgment. The researcher understands that her position as a female researcher may impact the interviewee’s responses but states that to what extent that may impact her data collection is unclear.
Chapter 3 investigates the respondent’s ability to maintain bonds within the community. All respondents reported the ability to maintain social bonds through church, work, family, and friends. Specifically, Rickard notes that familial relationships remained strong and supportive regardless of their offense. This chapter also presents the men’s stories individually.
Chapter 4 investigates how punishments imposed on the men impacted their status in the community. Through labeling, shaming, and other sanctions such as Megan’s law, Rickard addresses five themes that were analyzed through the men’s narratives. Themes included social control and civil restrictions, employment, housing, subjective experiences of stigma, and the loss of community (this theme applied to one offender).
Chapter 5 discusses the strategies that the men developed to maintain a sense of social connection and a “normal” sense of self. Constructed similarly to the previous chapter, Rickard discusses four themes that are revealed. Themes included the men’s assertion of the “real self” that was separate from their offense, their concurrence with “mainstream views” of sex offenders, and the need for Megan’s Law type legislation, while at the same time separating themselves from the need to be classified as the dangerous other. Additional themes included critiques of sex offender policies and their victimization by the labeling process.
Chapter 6 serves as a conclusion to the text. Rickard addresses the shortcomings of current notification laws to prevent crimes and the public’s understanding of the sex offender’s likelihood of reoffending. She underscores the difficulty in having a rational debate about existing policies regarding sex offenders; there is no sex offender advocacy group, and no lawmaker wants to appear soft on crime.
Rickard makes a policy recommendation to remove sex offender registration and notification laws. She points out that they do little to effect recidivism rates, and most sex offenders are first-time offenders. Considering the stigma that comes with being a sex offender (even for a minor offense), future research should be conducted to investigate whether removing notification laws has a negative impact.
Rickard utilizes qualitative data through narrative analysis to uncover how respondents manage the sex offender label and their existence in free society that places constrictions on them. She interviewed six men for 3 hr each (two 90-min interviews) using open-ended in-depth interviewing methods. This technique was used to avoid imposing a narrative on the interviewee by restricting their answers based on a predetermined line of questioning. The first interview consisted of questions aimed at collecting background information including family history. This interviewing strategy was aimed at building the rapport necessary to discuss their current and prior offenses in the follow-up interview. The second interview focused on the nature of their offense. Rickard chose nonstructured interviewing techniques to allow the respondents to construct their own story to result in unique narratives that were meaningful to each person being interviewed.
Rickard outlines efforts to gain access to research subjects and the challenges incurred. Only three sex offender treatment centers were labeled as such, making it difficult to find locations to recruit participants. Through the Probation Department, Rickard was able to distribute fliers to probation officers to pass along to their “clients.” Rickard received calls to participate in the study, but few returned her calls or showed up for interviews, even with a financial incentive to do so. Utilizing this strategy, Rickard was able to interview four men. When Rickard went to one of the treatment centers to discuss the project and increased the financial incentive, she was able to recruit seven more men, two of whom were interviewed. She does not state why she ultimately chose these six men to interview and capture in this text. Based on the small sample size, Rickard’s results may not be generalizable, but the stories conveyed by the respondents are on par with the current literature on sex offender typologies.
Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control is well suited for undergraduate and graduate students in criminal justice classes. Often, I find undergraduate students think of sex offenders as falling into dichotomous categories (rapists and child molesters). This text can challenge popularly conceived notions of offending and is useful in guiding conversations on sex offenders, treatment, and the impact of public policy. Furthermore, Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control effectively outlines how correctional policy impacts real people. Finally, Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control would be an ideal text for offender counseling classes. Students who are interested in correctional counseling would find this text insightful and valuable in considering how to counsel sex offender populations.