ABSTRACT
The current study examines responses from 188 registered sex offenders to assess the impact of collateral consequences and situate such experiences within a framework of necropolitics. Two research questions are addressed: How can the experience of collateral consequences be explained through necropolitics; and, do sex offenders use necropolitics in resistive efforts? Results demonstrate that exclusion from social and political institutions results in a “death in life” for sex offenders. Last, this article discusses an alternative lens for conceptualizing policy initiatives towards sex offenders by juxtaposing Luckmann’s “life-worlds” with Mbembe’s “death worlds.”
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Notes on contributors
Ethan M. Higgins
ETHAN M. HIGGINS is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville. His research interests focus on identity and criminal justice, perceptions of criminality, qualitative methods, and theoretical criminology. Recent work appears in the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology.
Shawn M. Rolfe
SHAWN M. ROLFE is a doctoral student in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Louisville. His research primarily focuses on crime and deviance, and reentry policies associated with ex-offenders and veterans. In addition, he is also one of the founding and current board members of Sexual Offense Policy and Research group. His recent articles appear in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, American Journal of Criminal Justice, Deviant Behavior, The Prison Journal, and Corrections: Policy, Practice and Research.