Unseen Victims: The Families of Sex Offenders

Disenfranchised Supporters: The Sex Offender’s Family

Overview

I chose to write about sex offender families as I’ve seen so many in court that look pained, embarrassed, angry, lost and confused. As an advocate I was there for the victim and their family but the sex offender’s family often only had the support of each other. Court staff didn’t recognize them as anything but supporters of the offenders who didn’t deserve support themselves. I often had opposing feelings of empathy for them and sometimes mistrust. So because of my curiosity regarding the sex offender’s family I decided to focus on them for this writing assignment. I will focus on how his or her sexual crime(s) affect the family and whether or not there is any support in the community

for these disenfranchised supporters.
The Sex Offender Registry and Its Impact on Family Members

According to Levenson & Tewksbury (2009), most family members do not believe it is fair to inform the community about the sex offender’s risk of recidivism, and 97% were in denial that their family member would do it again. They would rather the offender didn’t have to register as it impacts them also. Research by Levenson & Tewksbury (2009), revealed the following consequences for immediate family members of registered sex offenders:
• Because the offender had difficulties finding a job (because employers didn’t want to hire a registered sex offender), it created financial
hardship for the family.
• Sometimes the offender loses a job because a boss or co-worker finds out through Megan’s Law that (s)he is a sex offender, which creates financial hardship for everyone in the family.
• Family has had to move out of a home they rented because the landlord or neighbors found out through Megan’s Law that s(he) is a sex offender.
• Family has had to move out of a home they owned because their neighbors found out.
• Family members have been threatened or harassed by neighbors after they found out.
• They have been physically assaulted or injured by someone who found out.
• Family member property has been damaged.
• A person who lives with the family member (not the offender) has been threatened, harassed, assaulted, injured, or suffered property damage because someone found out about the sex offender being in residence.
In a follow up research study by Frenzel, Bowen, Spraitz, Bowers, & Phaneuf (2014), researchers corroborated that family members and friends of registered sex offenders continue to suffer consequences. Their research study found the same collateral consequences as the previous study, Levenson & Tewksbury (2009), including loss of jobs, housing, friends, as well as physical, verbal, and emotional harassment. These types of harrassment follow sex offenders for a long time after they are released from the criminal justice system.
Stress on Immediate Family Members
In the research study by Tewksbury and Levenson (2009) most family members of registered sex offenders (86%) reported that the sex offender registry has caused them stress, 77% felt isolated, and 49% were often afraid for their own safety. Half had lost friends or a close relationship because of the registered sex offender and 66% said that shame and embarrassment kept them from public activities. Lower income levels also caused increased stress levels, as well as having to move because of the offender’s status.
Impact on the Children of a Sex Offender

Also noted in the research study by Tewksbury and Levenson (2009), children of registered sex offenders were treated differently by other children at school. 78% of the sex offender’s children indicated that their friendships had been impacted. It was common for other children’s parents to be reluctant to allow the sex offender’s child to play with them in the friend’s home (56%) or to let the friend come to the sex offender’s child’s home to play (70%). Sadly, 63% of children of sex offenders report being treated differently by other adults (teachers, neighbors, friends’ parents). The children of sex offenders have been stigmatized because of the parent’s status as a sex offender (71%). The children of sex offenders often exhibit anger (80%), depression (77%), anxiety (73%), feeling left out by peers (65%), and fear (63%). One in eight (13%) of the children of sex offenders had suicidal tendencies.
Secondary Effects of Conviction Impacting the Family

As mentioned previously, employment issues cause financial burdens and stress that extend throughout the family.

Housing issues relating to sex offender registration include location of the residence. There are several restrictions about distance away from schools, parks etc. It’s difficult to find adequate housing in a decent neighborhood with the restrictions placed on the offender. When the offender and his family do find housing they are often rejected by neighbors and/or landlords and are forced to move. The neighbors and landlords worry about their own kids or neighborhood children. They also worry about property values going down because people don’t want to live next door to a sex

offender.
When the Offender is a Juvenile

According to research by Hackett, Balfe, Masson, & Phillips (2014), parents of juvenile offenders survey responses were varied. Parents of young male sexual abusers experienced shock, confusion, self-blame, guilt, anger and sadness. Some parents were supportive of the child sex offender and others were ambivalent or uncertain. Some parents even outright rejected their sex offender child. Interestingly, parents were more likely to support their child when the child’s victim(s) were from outside the family but condemned their child when their victim(s) were from inside the family. Sex offender sibling responses depended on whether that sibling was abused or not. These researchers suggested that parent’s suffer from disbelief or minimization regarding their child’s sex offense(s), which is often a defense mechanism that protects them from the negative consequences of accepting their child’s actions.
Incarcerated Sex Offenders Views Regarding Their Own Family
Social support from family is necessary to avoid recidivism for sex offenders as well as perpetrators of other crimes. Tewksbury & Connor (2012) research findings revealed that incarcerated sex offenders had both positive and negative outlooks toward their families before and after their sex offense conviction(s). Most sex offenders who reported positive family experiences prior to their conviction described relationships that were supportive, offered encouragement and intimacy. Sex offenders who mentioned negative family experiences talked about upsetting situations around separation, violence, and sexual abuse. The majority of sex offenders discussed looking forward to potential positive experiences upon their prison release. They described acceptance, employment opportunities, and housing options. I found it interesting that most of what they were expecting to obtain was to be provided by family members. The very same family members that are often suffering due to the offender’s actions. Some sex offenders did expect negative reactions from their families, including rejection and doubt.
The Family as Creator of the Sex Offender

We can’t look at the repercussions of sex offenses without looking at why people become sex offenders.

It’s important to note that there may be, in some situations, some responsibility upon the sex offender’s family for their criminal proclivity. Although, in the end, the sex offender’s acts are ultimately a matter of choice. Jespersen, Lalumière & Seto, (2009) found that sexual offenders experienced a higher rate of childhood sexual abuse than nonoffenders, but that rates of physical abuse did not vary between the two populations.

According to research by O'Toole & Jeglic (2014) childhood family environment factors may be related to sexual assaults perpetrated by sex offenders. Offenders raised by nonbiological or single parents seemed to be convicted of violent sexual offenses more often than those raised in a traditional two-parent household. Sex offenders who were raised by nonbiological parents, or were removed from their childhood homes due to abuse and neglect, or were not raised in two-parent households all appeared to pose significantly higher risk for recidivism than their counterparts.

Is Prevention

Possible?

Public awareness in the form of Sex Offender Registries are not the answer in safeguarding sex offenders against committing crime (Adkins, Huff, & Stageberg, 2000; Vasquez, Maddan, & Walker, 2008; Zevitz, 2006). The answer to prevention probably lies within helping juvenile offenders when they begin offender, offering family education against sexual and physical abuse and also offering in-depth adult sex offender psychological counseling. But all of this costs money and county courts and offices usually don’t have a large budget to work with. But we need to make this happen as it is so important to keep our children safe and innocent of the world around them (that innocence is lost so quickly and they are forced to grow up too fast without being victimized).
I thought that maybe a good way for family members to get help anonymously would be by pages offered over the Internet. Many of the supportive websites I researched for adult sex offenders were gone. I did find some for juvenile sex offender resources however. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy has a page for Families of Juvenile Sex Offenders (https://www.aamft.org/iMIS15/AAMFT/Content/Consumer_Updates/Families_of_Juvenile_Sex_Offenders.aspx). I also found a blog for moms, dads, family, and friends of juvenile sex offenders (http://momseekingjustice.blogspot.com). In addition to these juvenile resources I found a webpage for sexual addiction for both adults and juveniles (http://www.sanon.org).
This critical writing assignment was difficult to write. While I understand why we need to recognize the suffering of the offender’s family I also understand what it’s like to work with the victim’s of these terrible crimes (and their families). We see horrible headlines everyday about the sexual assault of a child. Michigan recently sentenced a case in which an 18-month old was the victim (https://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2015/former-coast-guard-member-sentenced-to-50-years-for-producing-child-pornography-of-young-girls). She was tied to a bed in a Michigan hotel and repeatedly raped over several days. I like others in the public and in law enforcement, have a difficult time getting past what I’ve seen and heard and find it within myself to extend sympathy to sex offender’s families. I believe most of the general public has these negative feelings regarding sex offenders and their families and that is why not much is offered in assistance to them. I’m not sure what the answers are. But one thing I know for sure is that it’s important to try to do something more, something better, to protect our children.