Desistance From Sexual Offending: Narratives Of Retirement, Regulation And Recovery (palgrave Studies In Risk, Crime And Society)
by Danielle Arlanda Harris /
2017 / English / PDF
2.5 MB Download
This book describes the complex process of desistance from sexual
crime as told by 74 men incarcerated for sexual offenses and
released back into the community. Unlike much of the research on
this topic, Harris places strong emphasis on how men who have
committed serious sexual offenses come to stop offending and end
their ‘criminal career’. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Harris
outlines three main strategies that the men employ in order to
pursue offense-free lives. The Retirement Strategy is divided into
those who appear to simply ‘resign’ and those who go on to
‘rebuild’ their lives. The Regulation Strategy characterizes
desistance as a product of one’s ability to navigate increasingly
restrictive legislation (‘restricted,’ ‘rehearsed,’ ‘resistant,’
and ‘reclusive’ desistance). The men who describe their desistance
in terms of Recovery do so either through ‘rehabilitation’ or
through ‘resilience.’ This original and engaging study will be of
great interest not only to academics who study sexual aggression
but also those who have survived sexual abuse themselves, and
anyone working with survivors of sexual abuse, individuals
convicted of sexual offenses, their families, and their
communities.
This book describes the complex process of desistance from sexual
crime as told by 74 men incarcerated for sexual offenses and
released back into the community. Unlike much of the research on
this topic, Harris places strong emphasis on how men who have
committed serious sexual offenses come to stop offending and end
their ‘criminal career’. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Harris
outlines three main strategies that the men employ in order to
pursue offense-free lives. The Retirement Strategy is divided into
those who appear to simply ‘resign’ and those who go on to
‘rebuild’ their lives. The Regulation Strategy characterizes
desistance as a product of one’s ability to navigate increasingly
restrictive legislation (‘restricted,’ ‘rehearsed,’ ‘resistant,’
and ‘reclusive’ desistance). The men who describe their desistance
in terms of Recovery do so either through ‘rehabilitation’ or
through ‘resilience.’ This original and engaging study will be of
great interest not only to academics who study sexual aggression
but also those who have survived sexual abuse themselves, and
anyone working with survivors of sexual abuse, individuals
convicted of sexual offenses, their families, and their
communities.