The Irredeemable? How Men Convicted of Sexual Offenses Reflect and Reconcile Redemption and Condemnation Scripts on the Path to Desistance

ABSTRACT

Desistance from sexual offending is of great import to scholars, practitioners, and the public. Despite theoretical advances in life course theories generally, the same work is only beginning for subgroups, like individuals convicted of sexual offenses, who may have a different desistance process than other types of offense categories due to the nature of the crime, structural disadvantage, and mandated treatment contexts. The current study considers the applicability of narrative identity theory, particularly the expression of condemnation and redemption scripts, among a sample of men convicted of sexual offenses. Using narrative analysis of in-depth interviews from a longitudinal qualitative dataset, cognitive scripts emerged in ways that uniquely apply to sex offending behavior and the experience of being labeled a ‘sex offender.’ Participants uniformly express condemnation scripts related to the labeling and structural experience of constant supervision by an array of entities, but seek and find redemption through the experiences offered in treatment. Findings from this study contribute to the growing literature on desistance from sexual offending and have implications for new theoretical developments within life course criminology.

Notes

¹ Interviews with women were also conducted but underrepresented in the total sample (n = 3). As such, they are not included in the present analysis and the results do not reflect women’s reentry experiences.

² While considered a low response rate in survey research, this is consistent with other qualitative research with individuals convicted of sexual offenses (Tewksbury and Lees 2007).

³ A comparison with the total sex offender population suggests the present sample is representative of sex offenders supervised in Missouri regarding offense type, criminal history, age, and race.

⁴ Ariel Castro held three women captive for a decade, subjecting them to sexual assault and torture, before they escaped. At the time of Jason’s interview, Castro had been arrested in Cleveland, Ohio, so this story frequently appeared in the news. Castro was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years in prison, where he committed suicide in 2013 (CNN Editorial Research 2021).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Notes on contributors

Kimberly R. Kras

Kimberly R. Kras, School of Public Affairs, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA, 9 2182.