Abstract
The Vandiver et al. (2011) study uses an interview-based approach to determine the effects that female sex offenders feel as a result of their placement on the sex offender registry. The article looks at women from Texas and Illinois, and accumulates information about judicial processing experiences and the effects of their placement on the registry. The Vandiver et al. (2011) study focuses specifically on the experiences of female sex offenders, which is quite different from many studies on the impacts of being placed on the registry, as most individuals who are placed on the registry are male. The purpose of this discussion, then, will be to analyze the different issues contained within the article, looking at the nature of qualitative research, the research methodology and structure, the theoretical framework utilized by the authors, the major findings of the research, and potential policy implications associated with the study as a whole.
What is the type of research the authors conducted?
In the Vandiver, Dial and Worley (2011) study, an interview-based approach to criminal justice assessment was utilized. This assessment used interviews of registered female sex offenders to accumulate information about judicial processing experiences and the perceived effects that these offenders felt as a result of being placed on the sex offender registry (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The interviews that were conducted by the researchers were in-depth and personal, and were designed to better understand the experiences of these women and the consequences of their placement on the sex offender registry (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011).
Interview questions were given to nine registered sex offenders from Illinois and Texas. The researchers used a tool called a semi-structured interview, which allows the participants to respond freely to open-ended questions. Vandiver et al. (2011) define the structure of the interview as “semi-standardized,” meaning that researchers had prescribed closed-ended questions as well, but could allow respondents to deviate from the open-ended questions when deemed necessary (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The interviewers used a coding sheet to record answers to closed-ended questions, and took notes to establish answers to open-ended ones (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011).
The overall structure of the research was qualitative in nature (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). Both qualitative and quantitative studies have their place in criminal justice research, of course—Maxfield and Babbie (2014) note that trends can easily be seen using quantitative data, but that the meaning of these trends is sometimes better understood through the use of qualitative study (Maxfield & Babbie, 2014). Qualitative research was used in this case, because the quantitative framework for understanding the nature of female sex offenders is largely unhelpful—according to Vandiver et al. (2011), less than 1% of those on the sex offender registry in the United States are female. Qualitative information gleaned through interviews gave the researchers a much better understanding of the specific issues that women on the sex offender registry face, and how their experiences differ distinctly from their male counterparts. Qualitative and quantitative each have a role in the field of criminal justice research, however, as each provide different types of information (Bachman & Schutt, 2013).
Discuss the theoretical framework the authors examine in the article.
Vandiver et al. (2011), conversely, note that female sex offenders exist in a stigmatized, outcast group. They do not experience reintegrative shaming; instead, they experience shaming without the associated reintegration, which causes them to be outcast from the community as a whole (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The researchers suggest that these people’s self-esteem is negatively affected by the failure to reintegrate into the community, and they must join outcast groups of criminals in an attempt to find community (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011).
Furthermore, the theoretical framework regarding female sex offenders suggests that when women are placed on the sexual offender list, their deviance becomes an essential part of their personality because society fails to recognize any part of their character as good or positive (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). This has a distinctly destructive effect on the self-esteem of these women, and causes them difficulty in building positive and reciprocal relationships (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). It also, as previously stated, stigmatizes them and forces them out of the mainstream community into groups of deviant individuals (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011; Braithwaite, 1989).
Describe research design.
The researchers utilized a combined open and closed interview question structure to investigate the issues associated with female sex offenders, particularly focusing on the experiences that these women have as a result of their existence on the sex offender registry (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The researchers first had to find women who were willing to participate in the study: to do so, they sought out women who were on the Texas and Illinois sex offender registries. The researchers mailed a letter to the women that they discovered on the registry, detailing the study and the purpose of the study—potential participants were asked to respond with their phone number if they were willing to participate (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The interviews were then conducted at the participants’ homes, and they were conducted by female researchers. Using researchers of a certain gender can be a very powerful interviewing technique (Bachman & Schutt, 2013).
The interviews themselves can be described as “semi-structured,” and they contained a number of both open and closed ended questions. Open-ended questions were asked to the participants, and the participants were allowed to respond freely; closed ended questions had a prescribed response, and the interviewers marked the responses that these participants had on a coding sheet (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). When the participants responded to open-ended questions, the responses to these questions were recorded via notes and then placed in a file. The researchers recognized that reporting each result on a case-by-case basis was impossible due to anonymity concerns—after all, the sex offender registry is public information—so the results of the interviews were organized only based on different categories of experience and offense (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011).
Summarize the major findings of the research.
The research discovered that a slight majority of the participants in the study worked with a public defender, but because there were so few participants in the study, it is unclear whether this trend holds true for all registered female sex offenders (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). In general, the women seemed to be unsatisfied with their attorneys, although a few acknowledged that they were satisfied as a whole (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). Some of the women who participated in the interview were tried in conjunction with a male partner (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The researchers note that a number of the women who were registered fell into the category of nurturers—that is, they took their victim “under their wing,” so to speak. Another significant percentage of those who were convicted were women who were convicted of molesting their children or step children (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). Many of the women described negative experiences with sex offender treatment, noting that it is not geared towards women, and that they felt highly uncomfortable being present in the room with so many male offenders (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). Most of the respondents noted that their presence on the sex offender registry hurt their personal relationships, and four of the respondents (nearly half) claimed to experience difficulty finding employment and housing (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). Overall, the researchers suggest that women who are on the sex offender registry suffer inordinately in at least one area of their lives as a result of public information about their crimes being available.
5. Discussion the policy implications of the authors’ conclusions.
Perhaps the finding that is most worrisome in this piece is the fact that sex offender treatment for women is so ineffective. Most of the women who participated in treatment noted that they did not feel comfortable in treatment, and they did not feel that they could find any significant help in this environment—it is certainly a male-dominated environment, as the vast majority of sex offenders are male (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011).
The researchers seem to suggest that the public sex offender registry is something that should be re-thought, as it provides the general public with too much information about an individual and his or her past crimes (Vandiver, Dial & Worley, 2011). The research seems to suggest as well that society as a whole is slow to allow individuals who have been placed on the sex offender registry to move on, and that perhaps an appropriate policy for sex offenders is a more thorough integrative approach, focusing on reintegrative shaming rather than shaming without appropriate reintegration techniques. Of course, more information is needed to design an appropriate policy for communities interested in reintegrating sex offenders—however, it is clear that women suffer differently from men, and that policy structures designed to help women offenders must be put into place.
References
Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2013). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice. Sage.
Braithwaite, J. (1989). Crime, shame and reintegration. Cambridge University Press.
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2014). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Nelson Education.
Vandiver, D. M., Dial, K. C., & Worley, R. M. (2008). A Qualitative Assessment of Registered Female Sex Offenders Judicial Processing Experiences and Perceived Effects of a Public Registry. Criminal Justice Review, 33(2), 177-198.
