Rosselli Michelle K, Jeglic Elizabeth L
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2017 Jan 16;24(4):496-515. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2016.1254562. eCollection 2017.
Sex offender legislation is influenced by public pressure. However, there is evidence suggesting that the public's beliefs about sex offenders may be based upon myths and misperceptions. This study examined the relationship between knowledge of sex offenders in areas concerning their recidivism rates, treatment outcomes, and victim types, as well as current supervision and correctional management directed toward sex offenders and how this knowledge relates to overall attitudes towards sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and community notification laws. Further, we sought to examine how conservative belief systems affect this relationship. Using a sample of 559 undergraduate students we found that knowledge about sex offenders and conservative beliefs were significantly related to attitudes toward sex offenders such that those who had more conservative beliefs and less knowledge were more likely to have negative views toward sex offenders. Additionally, conservative belief systems moderated the relationship between knowledge about sex offenders and general attitudes toward sex offenders. These findings will be discussed as they pertain to the development of evidence-based sex offender policies.
性犯罪者立法受到公众压力的影响。然而，有证据表明，公众对性犯罪者的看法可能基于神话和误解。本研究考察了在性犯罪者的累犯率、治疗结果和受害者类型等方面的知识，以及当前针对性犯罪者的监督和矫正管理之间的关系，以及这些知识如何与对性犯罪者的总体态度、性犯罪者治疗和社区通知法律相关。此外，我们试图研究保守的信仰体系如何影响这种关系。通过对559名本科生的抽样调查，我们发现，关于性犯罪者的知识和保守信仰与对性犯罪者的态度显著相关，即那些保守信仰更强、知识更少的人更有可能对性犯罪者持有负面看法。此外，保守的信仰体系调节了关于性犯罪者的知识与对性犯罪者的总体态度之间的关系。这些发现将在与循证性犯罪者政策的发展相关的背景下进行讨论。
