Sex Offenders: What Happens After Incarceration?

• In Event: The Role of Community in the Reentry Process

Abstract

This qualitative-based paper explores the post-incarceration journeys of 25 male sex offenders who were residents of a faith-based reentry facility for men with similar criminal histories and focuses on how that living experience shaped their reentry and reintegration experiences. Individuals with sex offense felony records are often stigmatized due to the nature of their past crimes and tangential imposition of restrictive laws, policies and community supervision conditions which constrain opportunities for housing and sustainable employment. Although, research shows that having access to and inclusion in support networks can buffer these and other collateral consequences to imprisonment little is known about the institutions and underlying systems that operate to assist sex offenders during their transitions back to society. The participants in this study shed light on one such organization located in the northeast and how involvement in it can help released sex offenders manage criminal stigma and adjust overall to post-incarceration life through peer interactions centered on religion and social inculcation.

Author

• Lindsey Runell, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania