Sex Offenders Who Care for Children: Role Conflict and the Registry

• In Event: Navigating Reentry

Abstract

The logic of sex offender registration and community notification (SORN) depends on the assumption that those convicted of a sex offense are an inherent danger to children. If someone is a sex offender and has a child, the cultural perception is that they likely offended against their own child or were otherwise abusing them. However, numerous sex offenders are also the active legal guardians of children after release. Drawing on interviews with 106 persons convicted of sex offenses in a southwestern state, I show how respondents navigate boundaries excluding them from the lives of children while themselves raising children. Respondents describe conflicts with school administration, parents of their children's peers, and community institutions like churches. Furthermore, partners negotiated roles around the very young to protect the family regardless of offense history or diagnosis. Finally, registered citizens attempted to construct a balance between revealing information about their offense to their children and protecting them from the consequences of the registry being expanded to include them. This study shows how sex offender registries affect the lives of children and their relationships with registered parents.

Author

• Chris Wakefield, Whitman College