Jung Sandy, Allison Meredith, Toop Carissa, Martin Erin
Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA.
Psychiatr Psychol Law. 2020 May 14;27(3):478-492. doi: 10.1080/13218719.2020.1733698. eCollection 2020.
Sex offender registries (SORs) were established due to policies and practices intended to protect the public from individuals who commit sexually violent acts, and yet the empirical literature does not show that public SORs reduce or prevent sexual crimes. Given that politicians prominently influence SOR policies, the current study explores the views of SORs by 26 political decision-makers from Canada and the United States. Participants completed a survey on their opinions regarding SORs and their knowledge of SOR eligibility. Attitudes and political perspectives were assessed to examine their association with SOR opinions. Almost two thirds of those surveyed believed SORs should be publicly available, and one third believed SORs helped to protect the public. These beliefs were associated with those with conservative-leaning political views. These findings help us to explore the perspectives of political decision-makers and gain insight into attitudinal factors that may play a role in influencing opinions regarding SORs.
性犯罪者登记册（SORs）是由于旨在保护公众免受实施性暴力行为者侵害的政策和做法而设立的，然而实证文献并未表明公开的性犯罪者登记册能减少或预防性犯罪。鉴于政治家对性犯罪者登记册政策有显著影响，当前研究探讨了来自加拿大和美国的26位政治决策者对性犯罪者登记册的看法。参与者完成了一项关于他们对性犯罪者登记册的看法及其对性犯罪者登记资格了解程度的调查。评估了他们态度和政治观点，以检验其与对性犯罪者登记册看法的关联。近三分之二的受访者认为性犯罪者登记册应公开，三分之一的人认为性犯罪者登记册有助于保护公众。这些观点与倾向保守政治观点的人有关。这些发现有助于我们探索政治决策者的观点，并深入了解可能在影响对性犯罪者登记册看法方面起作用的态度因素。
