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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 194-208 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Sexual Aggression |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |