Abstract
This chapter captures the experience of recidivism and presents the stories of the 34 individuals who reoffended with a sexual offense after being incarcerated previously for a similar crime. Here, I consider the messy and somewhat opaque distinction between recidivism and desistance. The implications of understanding relapse and reoffending are clearly vast and important. In this chapter, I discuss what worked (and what did not) in the period immediately following release from custody. Much is gleaned from the men’s explanations of what benefits or difficulties they experienced upon their community re-entry and what went wrong and why. My findings indicate that the single factor that best distinguished the men was the way they were treated, administered, and managed by the criminal justice system.
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- 1.
Daniel, Austin, Parker, Ruben, Giovanni, Gavin, Lance, Rhys, Colin, Rufus, Travis, Freddy, Dusty, Eric, Theo, Mitchell, Joshua, and Kurt.
- 2.
Randolph, Richard, Pierce, Jerome, Liam, Rodell, Jesse, Grant, Marshall, Brent, Samuel, Julian, Derek, Reshay, Rudolph, and Barry.
- 3.
For a short period of time in the early 1970s, men could voluntarily admit themselves to the treatment center for observation and evaluation. During this time, they were permitted to come and go as they pleased, but to follow the rules of the facility and attend treatment and group therapy while they were present.
Reference
Sampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. London: Harvard University Press.
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Harris, D.A. (2017). The Experience of Relapse. In: Desistance from Sexual Offending. Palgrave Studies in Risk, Crime and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63200-1_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63200-1_5
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63199-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63200-1
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