Planning helps: The impact of release planning on subsequent re-entry experiences of child sex offenders

Gwenda M. Willis, Lucy Johnston

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent research has demonstrated that poor release planning is associated with sex offender recidivism; however, whether release planning correlates with actual re-entry experiences has not been investigated systematically. Accordingly, in the present study release planning was rated for 16 child sex offenders, and semi-structured interviews about re-entry experiences were conducted at one, three and six months following their release from prison. As expected, significant positive correlations were found between release planning and re-entry experiences across the follow-up period, indicating that higher-quality release planning is associated with more positive re-entry experiences. Accordingly, it can be assumed that re-entry experiences differ between recidivists and non-recidivists, and hence positive re-entry experiences contribute to a reduction in sex offender recidivism. The implications for the management of offender release, policy makers and society as a whole are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)194-208
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Sexual Aggression
Volume18
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2012
Externally publishedYes

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