Lamenting the list: a partial test of Sherman’s defiance theory as applied to female sex offenders

Abstract

Through the community notification and sex offender registry laws that have been passed, the USA has created a strict legal environment that requires sex offenders to remain in compliance with the registry requirements placed on them by the state once they are released back into their communities. A variety of unintended consequences, such as unemployment and housing issues, have resulted from these laws and have the potential to impact the reentry efforts of released sex offenders. Using Sherman’s defiance theory as a theoretical lens, the current study examines the experiences of registered female sex offenders living in Florida. One hundred and six registered female sex offenders were surveyed to examine their experiences while on the registry, and whether those events influence feelings of defiance toward the registry and criminal justice systems. Results suggest that these offenders indeed experience unintended consequences due to their registration status, which in turn shows support for the four canonical elements of Sherman’s theory by inferring that these women feel unjustly punished and stigmatized. Research findings, policy implications, and limitations are discussed.

Keywords:

• female offenders
• defiance theory
• sex offenders
• registry
• unintended consequences

Notes

1. In Florida, sex offenders can be classified as either a sexual predator or a sexual offender. The most basic definition of a sexual predator is someone who has been convicted of a capital, life, or first-degree felony sex offense on or after 1 October 1993. In addition, anyone who has any felony violations in addition to the original conviction will be deemed a sexual predator. The court can also deem someone to be a sexual predator. Also, regardless of meeting these previously mentioned conditions, anyone who has been civilly committed on or after 1 July 2004, must register as a sexual predator (FDLE, 2011). A sexual offender is defined as someone who has never been designated a sexual predator in Florida or in any other state and has committed a sexual offense that is not a capital, life, or first-degree felony sex offense. Juveniles who have been adjudicated delinquent and who were 14 years of age or older at the time of the crime, can also be designated as sexual offenders (FDLE, 2011).

2. Due to the fact that the registry list provided by the FDLE included all female sex offenders to ever register, researchers needed to remove all participants who would not be able to participate in the study.

3. Confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha for the defiance theory measures: unfair sanctions all loaded at .725 or higher with a Cronbach’s alpha of .762; poor bonds/alienation all loaded at .768 or higher with a Cronbach’s alpha of .783; stigmatization of the offender all loaded at .807 or higher with a Cronbach’s alpha of .850 and refusal to acknowledge shame all loaded at .695 or higher with a Cronbach’s alpha of .522. All of the scales for the defiance theory measures are strongly reliable except for the Refusal to Acknowledge Shame scale. This could be due to having heterogeneous constructs within the measures (Tavakol & Dennick, 2011) – poor correlation was ruled out by univariate and bivariate testing as well as though collinearity diagnostics conducted in the regression itself.