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The Influence of a Juvenile’s Abuse History on Support for Sex Offender Registration

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduate...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Stevenson, Margaret C., Najdowski, Cynthia J., Salerno, Jessica M., Wiley, Tisha R. A., Bottoms, Bette L., Farnum, Katlyn S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Psychological Association 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445407/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26074717
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/law0000028
Descripción
Sumario:We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants considered a severe sexual offense (forced rape; Study 3 and Study 4) and a case involving less severe sexual offenses (i.e., statutory rape), when a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse backfired and was used as an aggravating factor, increasing support for registering the offender (Study 3 and Study 5). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.