Desistance from Sexual Offending: Narratives of Retirement, Regulation and Recovery

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Front Matter ....Pages 1-2 Introduction (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 3-17 Defining and Deconstructing Desistance (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 19-38 Situating the Sample, Meeting the Men, and Telling Their Stories (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 39-69 Front Matter ....Pages 71-73 From What Have They Desisted? (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 75-107 The Experience of Relapse (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 109-134 Front Matter ....Pages 135-137 The Retirement Strategy and the Natural Path to Desistance (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 139-177 Desistance by Regulation (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 179-217 Recovery: The Strategies of Resilience and Rehabilitation (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 219-250 Front Matter ....Pages 251-251 What’s Next? (Danielle Arlanda Harris)....Pages 253-268 Back Matter ....Pages 269-287