ABSTRACT

Desistance from sexual offending is of great import to scholars, practitioners, and the public. Despite theoretical advances in life course theories generally, the same work is only beginning for subgroups, like individuals convicted of sexual offenses, who may have a different desistance process than other types of offense categories due to the nature of the crime, structural disadvantage, and mandated treatment contexts. The current study considers the applicability of narrative identity theory, particularly the expression of condemnation and redemption scripts, among a sample of men convicted of sexual offenses. Using narrative analysis of in-depth interviews from a longitudinal qualitative dataset, cognitive scripts emerged in ways that uniquely apply to sex offending behavior and the experience of being labeled a ‘sex offender.’ Participants uniformly express condemnation scripts related to the labeling and structural experience of constant supervision by an array of entities, but seek and find redemption through the experiences offered in treatment. Findings from this study contribute to the growing literature on desistance from sexual offending and have implications for new theoretical developments within life course criminology.

摘要

制止性犯罪对学者、从业者和公众来说具有重要意义。尽管生命历程理论在理论上取得了普遍的进步，但同样的工作才刚刚开始针对亚组，例如被判犯有性犯罪的个人，由于犯罪的性质、结构上的劣势和强制治疗环境。目前的研究考虑了叙事身份理论的适用性，特别是谴责和救赎脚本的表达，在被定罪的男性样本中。使用来自纵向定性数据集的深入访谈的叙述分析，认知脚本以独特的方式出现，适用于性犯罪行为和被标记为“性犯罪者”的经历。' 参与者一致表达了与一系列实体不断监督的标签和结构经验相关的谴责脚本，但通过治疗提供的经验寻求和寻找救赎。这项研究的结果有助于越来越多的关于停止性犯罪的文献，并对生命历程犯罪学的新理论发展产生影响。