Growing up, Chris Dum has a morbid fascination with ‘deviant behavior.’ It led him down an unusual career path: he decided to study most reviled people in our society. Sex offenders. But it wasn’t enough to study them from a distance. No, abstract crime statistics or rigorously controlled laboratory experiments would not suffice. Rather, Chris wanted to know what their lives were actually like. So as a PhD student, he decided to actually live with them. He moved from his home near the university to a run-down motel on the rough part of town. Over the next year, he learned a thing or two about sex offenders, but he learned more about all us. He learned that the process of reintegrating sex offenders into society is a total mess, and it isn’t helping anyone.

———-PROGRAMMING NOTE———-

This episode originally aired in November 2016. Our newest episode of this season comes out Wednesday, May 6th. It’s called “the Pavillion,” and you can listen to a trailer on our website.

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———-CREDITS———-

This piece was produced by Gordon Katic and edited by Sam Fenn, as well as Alison Cooke of the CBC. Further support from Alexander B. Kim. Research advising from University of Washington Sociologist Katherine Beckett.

Dakota Koop is our graphic designer. Our production manager is David Tobiasz, and executive producers are Gordon Katic and Sam Fenn.

This project was made in partnership with the University of Washington Centre for Human Rights, which also provided some financial support. Further grant support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Cited is produced out of the Centre of Ethics at the University of Toronto, which is on the traditional land of Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat Peoples. Cited is also produced out of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia — that’s on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.