Date Created

12-2019

Abstract

Sex offenders are often considered the most dangerous type of criminal by the public, which is a common misconception (Levenson & D’Amora, 2007; Tewksbury & Copes, 2012). Registered sex offenders usually have the lowest recidivism rates when compared to other offenders (Robbers, 2009). The issue is that registered sex offenders are targeted by multiple set of laws such as the Wetterling Act, Megan’s Law, Adam Walsh Act, among others, Such sex offender legislation creates multiple reentry challenges that other type of offenders may not face (Grossi, 2017; Tewksbury & Copes, 2012). By using secondary data from Griffin and Evans (2019), the present study analyzed the type of reentry challenges that sex offenders face and dividing them into three categories; housing, employment, and support system/stigma. Additionally, it was examined if living area or victim type affected these reentry challenges. Using univariate and bivariate analysis, it was determined that sex offenders do face reentry challenges in all three categories, especially regarding housing when considering victim type. These findings help confirm past research and further educate legislators and the general public of the challenges that registered sex offenders have to become a law-abiding citizen, solely because of their master status.

Keywords

reentry; sex offenders; legislation; challenges

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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