Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control
216 pages, 6 x 9
Paperback
Release Date:04 Sep 2018
ISBN:9780813578309
Hardcover
Release Date:12 Jul 2016
ISBN:9780813578293
Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control
Rutgers University Press
In Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control, Diana Rickard provides the reader with an in-depth view of six sex offenders, exploring how they manage to cope with their highly stigmatized role as social outcasts. The book explores how these individuals construct their sense of self. By placing their stories within the context of the current culture of mass incarceration and zero-tolerance, Rickard provides a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between public policy and lived experience.
A timely and important book … Readers unfamiliar with the functions and consequences of sex offender registration and community notification laws will find an engaging, easy-to-read discussion of such policies. Scholars familiar with sex offender registration and community notification will likewise find value here – value that is centered on the focus of what creates the negative outcomes for individuals, and not just the collateral consequences.
[Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control] may be very useful for other scholars exploring identity construction and integration as well as the ways people make sense, narrate, and respond to stigma in the course of their lives… It does provide an intriguing and nuanced portrait of the ways such dynamics play out in relation to one of the most controversial and heavily stigmatized social locations in contemporary society.
Rickard’s work is an important one on a subject that has not adequately been studied, namely the status of sex offenders and the present ‘moral panic.’ Clear, organized, and well-researched, Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control is both distinctive and brave.
Draws on interviews in a study of six men convicted of a sexual offense against a minor; focuses on their self-perceptions and experience of social stigma and isolation after incarceration or lesser sanction.
A timely and important book … Readers unfamiliar with the functions and consequences of sex offender registration and community notification laws will find an engaging, easy-to-read discussion of such policies. Scholars familiar with sex offender registration and community notification will likewise find value here – value that is centered on the focus of what creates the negative outcomes for individuals, and not just the collateral consequences.
Rickard’s work is an important one on a subject that has not adequately been studied, namely the status of sex offenders and the present ‘moral panic.’ Clear, organized, and well-researched, Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control is both distinctive and brave.
[Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control] may be very useful for other scholars exploring identity construction and integration as well as the ways people make sense, narrate, and respond to stigma in the course of their lives… It does provide an intriguing and nuanced portrait of the ways such dynamics play out in relation to one of the most controversial and heavily stigmatized social locations in contemporary society.
Draws on interviews in a study of six men convicted of a sexual offense against a minor; focuses on their self-perceptions and experience of social stigma and isolation after incarceration or lesser sanction.
DIANA RICKARD is an assistant professor in the criminal justice program at Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York.
Contents
Acknowledgements
1 Towards a Sociology of Sexual Offense
2 Constructing the Offense
3 Community Bonds
4 Severed Bonds
5 Strategies to Re-Establish Social Bonds
6 Personal Stories/Public Policy
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index
