Written by Emma Tuschick, PhD Student and Research Associate, Teesside University
Deciding upon a PhD topic is not an easy task, which is why it took many months for me to finalise the research question I wanted to investigate; ‘exploring the barriers and facilitators to the release, desistance, and reintegration of sexual offenders and the impacts this has upon recidivism’. I had been extensively, and exclusively reading around the sex offender literature for evidence that supported successful reintegration for this population group, when my director of studies (Professor Nadia Wager) and I discussed a different approach. Instead of limiting myself to just one small area of research, why not broaden it to find methods that are not currently being explored in this area? Nadia agreed and then offered me one of her books from a large and impressive collection ‘Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection’ by Michael Wessells (2006).
I was immediately intrigued by the book, the illustration on the front of a young girl holding a machine gun, looking apprehensive but primed to use her weapon captured my attention. I began reading as soon as I returned home and felt myself getting lost in a world of darkness, despair, and brutality. Reintegrating back into a community, especially for those most stigmatised by society can be a difficult, traumatising, and overall negative experience. This was evident with the child soldiers as the communities they were returning to were the same ones the children had previously set fire to, destroyed, and murdered its citizens under their war leader’s commands. How is this possible you may be thinking? That was my thought when the book posed this exact dilemma that was being faced by thousands of children across the world.
Wessells achieved this and documented the steps taken in his book by first creating a model based on community sensitisation. This model consisted of five main factors: family support, education, psychosocial support, vocational skills, and community mobilisation. Focusing upon the community aspects, Wessells describes how advocates for child soldiers went through churches (as they were the most respected community members) and educated their leaders about the problems child soldiers faced. Church leaders then agreed to become community gatekeepers to gain community support for the children and address any presenting difficulties. The success of this model came from a combination of mediation, modelling, teaching, and family support. The gatekeepers served to defuse conflicts and encouraged a problem-solving approach. In addition, advocates created community-based programmes whereby they made home visits to ex-child soldiers to reduce the pain of isolation and prepare them to engage with the community.
Lastly, to achieve community reconciliation (rebuilding positive relationships after destructive conflict), Wessells described how, with the help of advocates, uniting community members (including ex-child soldiers) with similar priorities (in this case rebuilding their homes and villages after destruction) helped them to put aside their grievances and enabled them to work together to achieve a common purpose. At this time, it allowed community members to view ex-child soldiers differently as the advocates held workshops in between to address misperceptions and encouraged positive dialogue between the groups. Listening to the children’s individual stories of how they became soldiers reduced the stigmatisation and awakened empathy in the community members, thus leading the children to have a more positive and successful reintegration back into the community.
As I was reading the book, I came to realise these two very different population groups (child soldiers and sexual offenders) may have some things in common when it comes to reintegration:
- Both groups often face strong social stigma and rejection upon their return to society. The public may perceive them as dangerous or irredeemable, which can impede their successful reintegration.
- They have committed serious crimes which can create devastating and traumatising effects on the communities they are returning to.
- They have similar needs when re-entering society, such as family support, vocational skills, finding employment, and psychosocial support.
- They may experience extreme trauma as a result of their experiences. Child soldiers may have been exposed to death and combat, while sex offenders may have a history of abuse or trauma themselves. Therefore, both groups are in need of mental health support when reintegrating.
As a result of this, it allowed me to think that instead of focusing on how sex offenders themselves could adapt and somehow magically drop their stigmatising labels, why not focus on community awareness, education, and reconciliation through ‘community reconciliation’, ‘community sensitisation’, and ‘community mobilisation’.
Of course, there are many differences between these two populations, one could be said to be brainwashed and groomed into committing the crimes they do, whereas the other could simply be deviant and hold predatory thoughts. However, the term ‘sex offender’ can cover multiple different crimes, all the way from urinating in public, to child sexual abuse. It is important to both understand and differentiate between ‘sex offenders’ as they have different probation licence conditions, individual needs, and probabilities of re-offending. This is similar to child soldiers, whereby the author found that many children did not want to do what they did, however, some took to it a lot easier and even enjoyed the act of killing others and the status this provided amongst their peers.
However, despite the differences, Wessells’ book really made me think from a different perspective, a perspective which has successfully worked for a large, stigmatised, and labelled population, a population that increasingly appeared to have more similarities to sex offenders than I first anticipated. The book has also inspired and helped me to inform my own research by adopting similar methods to tackle a difficult and rising problem in society.
In conclusion, this blog was written to hopefully inspire fellow researchers to occasionally ‘think outside the box’ as it just may spark an idea that would never have existed without exploring new areas.
References
Wessells, M. (2006). Child soldiers: From violence to protection. Harvard University Press.