Sex Offenders, Stigma, and Social Control by Diana Rickard

Author:Diana Rickard [Rickard, Diana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Law Enforcement, Psychology, Social Psychology, Mental Health, Social Science, General, Criminology, Sociology, Penology, Sexual Abuse & Harassment, Privacy & Surveillance
ISBN: 9780813578323
Google: wNN2DAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Published: 2016-07-12T05:24:43+00:00

Employment

The work one performs is directly related to one’s social status and class, affecting one’s material conditions, consumption opportunities (increasingly significant in the expression of social identity in the modern world), and sense of security. In addition, work is often closely tied to one’s identity. For many people performing one’s professional role is a large part of the presentation of self. As Americans spend more hours a day at work, the workplace has emerged as a potentially significant site for community connectedness. Although Putnam argues that workplace ties tend not to be intimate or “supportive,” they can still offer the opportunity for “rewarding friendships” and “a sense of community” (Putnam, 2000, p. 87). Putnam also observes that “for the one American adult in three who is not employed, workplace ties are nonexistent” (ibid., p. 87). Thus, even if the workplace doesn’t offer as much potential for social capital as one might wish, those denied work do not even have the opportunity of establishing these kinds of connections.

Although SORA does not ban sex offenders from pursuing any particular form of employment (other than, as mentioned, operating an ice cream truck), many employers perform background checks and refuse to hire convicted felons, particularly sex offenders. This means that in pursuing work options, sex offenders must rely on either marginalized, “off-the-books” jobs or jobs they can secure through personal connections. Because of these limitations, convicted sex offenders are potentially excluded from high-status careers and high-paying jobs, putting them in a socially insecure and downwardly mobile position where the privileges and comforts of middle-class life are closed to them.

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