A/Prof. Danielle Harris1, Ms Amanda Bodker1, Ms Line Christophersen1
1Griffith University, Australia
Biography:
Associate Professor Harris is a future fellow of the Australian Research Council (2025-2029) based at the Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University. Her research examines sexual offending and related public policy. Her research has been funded by the Guggenheim Foundation, the California Sex Offender Management Board, Westpac Bank, ANROWS, and NCACSA.
Abstract:
The harmful collateral impacts of increasingly restrictive DSO legislation have reached a tipping point. Unintended (but not unforeseen) consequences such as homelessness, unemployment, disenfranchisement, and an increased risk of recidivism warrant thorough examination. Further, formal interrogation into the collateral damage felt by non-offending families (through Courtesy Stigma) is overdue. This presentation introduces a comprehensive research agenda to explore “the ripple effect” of unintended consequences of sex offender legislation on justice-involved people and their families. It lays out an ambitious comparison of several jurisdictions in three countries and presents some preliminary comparative results from Norway, North America, and Australia. We begin by considering the nature and extent of “Post-Conviction Traumatic Stress” (PTSD) in several states of the USA and compare the experiences of registered citizens with those of their relational (and familial) support networks. Next, we explore the cultural differences in narratives of desistance and narratives of recidivism by men in Norway and North America who have experienced custody, release, recidivism, and preventative detention for serious sexual offences.