Harper Craig A, Rumney Philip N S, Sackey Deborah A
NTU Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.
Leicester De Montfort Law School, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK.
Sex Abuse. 2024 Feb;36(1):33-58. doi: 10.1177/10790632231154168. Epub 2023 Jan 30.
Attitudes towards individuals with sexual convictions play a major role in the formation of legislative action, including sentencing policies and registration and notification procedures. However, there is little research about stigmatization directed at those who are accused of such offenses prior to conviction. In this work we explored this gap by comparing stigmatization (e.g., a desire for social distance, and negative personality attributions) towards people accused of a range of crimes (sexual, violent, and acquisitive), and whether this was further impacted by whether or not allegations led to a conviction. We recruited 403 community-based participants for a between-subjects experimental survey. We found support for the conclusion that people accused of and convicted for sexual offenses are more heavily stigmatized than allegations related to other crime types, and especially so when allegations involved child victims. Stigmatization took the form of greater levels of support for police-initiated notifications about allegations before conviction, increased desires for social distance, and attributions of negative personality traits. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these findings in relation to stigma research and issues related to anonymity for those accused of sexual offenses.
对有性犯罪定罪记录者的态度在立法行动的形成中起着重要作用，包括量刑政策以及登记和通报程序。然而，对于在定罪前被指控此类罪行的人所遭受的污名化研究却很少。在这项研究中，我们通过比较对一系列犯罪（性犯罪、暴力犯罪和财产犯罪）的被指控者的污名化情况（例如，对社会距离的渴望以及负面人格归因），以及这是否会因指控是否导致定罪而受到进一步影响，来填补这一空白。我们招募了403名社区参与者进行一项组间实验调查。我们的研究结果支持以下结论：与其他犯罪类型的指控相比，被指控并判定犯有性犯罪的人受到的污名化更为严重，尤其是当指控涉及儿童受害者时。污名化表现为在定罪前对警方就指控进行通报的支持程度更高、对社会距离的渴望增加以及对负面人格特质的归因。我们讨论了这些发现对于污名研究以及与性犯罪被指控者匿名性相关问题的理论和应用意义。
