An Exploration of Stigma in the Lives of Sex Offenders and Heroin Abusers

Abstract

Research was conducted on variations and commonalities of sexual offenders and heroin abusers and how they manage stigma in their everyday lives. Interviews with 13 sex offenders (SOs) and 44 heroin abusers (HAs) were conducted in New York City. Results suggest that both SOs and HAs disclose or conceal their stigmatized status based on their relationship to others and the situations in which they anticipate social condemnation. Both groups have formed intra-group hierarchies based on status, where child molesters and heroin abusers receive the most disdain. Some heroin abusers manage their stigma by engaging in behavior that we term redemptive passing, in which stigmatized individuals attempt to pass as non-stigmatized through deceptive means in order to make amends for prior harms they have caused. The stigmatization of sex offenders and heroin abusers has important implications for health, as members of these groups are less likely to seek treatment in order to distance themselves from their stigmatizing status.

Notes

¹ New York State assigns SO risk levels according to circumstances of the offense, criminal history, and lifestyle. Only police can access information for level 1 sex offenders, who are required to register for 20 years. The registry information for level 2 and level 3 sex offenders is available to the public via on-line registries, and these individuals are required to register their information at least annually for the remainder of their lives.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

R. Terry Furst

R. TERRY FURST received an M.A. in sociology from City College (CUNY) and a Ph.D. in sociology from the Graduate Faculty, The New School for Social Research. He served on the faculties of the College of Staten Island, the University of Alberta, and New York University. He has also worked as Research Associate at the National Drug Research Institutes (NDRI) and is currently an Assistant Professor on the anthropology faculty at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). His focus over the last three decades has been on ethnographic research on drug abusers subcultures, illegal drug markets, sex workers, street drug dealers, the transmission of HIV among injecting drug users, the evaluation of street outreach intervention workers, the adulteration of heroin in New York City, and the diffusion of heroin in the mid-Hudson region of New York State.

Douglas N. Evans

DOUGLAS N. EVANS is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Mercy College and a Visiting Scholar and Project Director with the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. His work focuses on criminal stigma, offender reentry, and community-based programs for offenders and the formerly incarcerated. Doug earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University–Bloomington.