Employment and Housing Challenges Experienced by Sex Offenders during Reentry on Parole

ABSTRACT

Although the general offender populations are known to experience numerous barriers to successful community reentry from prison, existing research suggests that barriers for sex offenders may be particularly acute. This research qualitatively examines the barriers to two key reentry dimensions—employment and housing—experienced by a sample of sex offenders (n = 65) during reentry on parole, while also drawing on a comparison sample of nonsex offenders (n = 30) to contextualize the results. The findings suggest that social stigma and sex offender supervision compound reentry challenges experienced by general offender populations, increasing strain during the reentry process. For this sample, sex offender–specific conditions limiting access to computers and difficulties surrounding transitional housing facilities were cited as especially problematic. Implications for future research and reentry practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Parole
• reentry/reintegration
• sexual assault

Notes

1. Even after discharge from correctional supervision, many sex offenders must continue to maintain their address and employment information on a sex offender registry. According to estimates there are approximately 736,000 sex offenders required to register in the community (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children [NCMEC], 2012).

2. This research focused on male sex offenders was primarily driven by the difficulty in securing an adequate sample size for this subpopulation, as females made up a very small proportion of sex offenders in the study state. This is a common issue for qualitative research with sex offenders, which has been conducted almost exclusively on male offenders (e.g., Burchfield & Mingus, 2008; Troshynski, 2011).

3. Michigan uses a four-tier system to categorize sexual offenses. The tiers are based on the presence and absence of sexual penetration and aggravating circumstances (e.g., victim younger than age 13, force used, weapon used, victim incapacitated, etc.). In order of decreasing severity, 1^st-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC 1) refers to penetration offenses with aggravating circumstances, CSC 2 to contact offenses with aggravating circumstances, CSC 3 to penetration offenses without aggravating circumstances, and CSC 4 to contact offenses without aggravating circumstances.

4. Initially, major themes of interest were informed by the reentry literature (Petersilia, 2003) and focused on employment and housing. However, other themes that emerged as the interviews progressed concerned expenses, transportation, securing services and treatment, and health.

5. All names provided are randomly generated pseudonyms. For context, all direct quotes are provided with whether the participant was a sex offender (SO), or a nonsex offender (NSO), their race/ethnicity, and age at parole.