What helps some families cope when a loved one is convicted of a sexual offense? Criminologist Mary Ann Farkas, Ph.D., and sociologist Gale Miller, Ph.D., and are collaborating in a study designed to answer that question.

Mary Ann Farkas, Ph.D., Gale Miller, Ph.D.

Their findings may identify key social coping mechanisms for families, lead to the development of policies that improve the experiences of offenders in prison, and ease offenders’ transition back into their families and communities.

Many families sever contact with a convicted sex offender. Often the emotional stress and logistics associated with traveling to a prison for visitation are simply too difficult to manage. For others, the stigma of the crime is overwhelming. A small segment of families find positive ways to respond. “If we can study them, we can learn how they were able to deal with the problem in ways that most people can’t,” says Miller, a professor of social and cultural sciences.

Miller and Farkas, an associate professor of social and cultural sciences, are interviewing adult members of up to 85 families who have maintained contact with imprisoned relatives. Through a series of three conversations with each adult, Miller and Farkas gather firsthand details of the perceptions, experiences and coping strategies the family members employed to maintain relationships after their loved one was arrested, convicted and incarcerated.

How families cope post-release is another focus of their research, which is endorsed by the Sexual Abuse Treatment Alliance. Registration, public notification and the strict monitoring and supervision of the sex offender may have divisive effects on the families. “Literature suggests that returning to an intact family makes a difference,” says Miller. “This is partly about recidivism but also about a successful readjustment in terms of finding a job, locating housing, fitting into a community and being able to make a positive contribution. Family is kind of a critical gatekeeper in that.”

Miller and Farkas are interviewing families in states that enforce a range of policies regarding conjugal and other visits, sentencing practices, post-release conditions and post-prison detention for some offenders.

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