Sexual Assault in the Ivory Tower: Public Opinion on University Accountability and Mandatory Reporting

Sexual Abuse ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Mancini ◽  
Justin T. Pickett ◽  
Corey Call ◽  
Robyn Diehl McDougle ◽  
Sarah Jane Brubaker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Campus Sexual Assault ◽  
Institutional Accountability ◽  
Sexual Assault Policy ◽  
Research And Policy

Highly publicized college sex crimes have recently captured public and policy attention. In response, greater discussion has turned to institutional accountability and controversial reforms such as mandatory reporting (MR). No study to date has measured public perceptions of campus sex assault procedures, however. This omission is notable because public opinion can directly and indirectly shape crime policy and because the topic has become increasingly politicized. Drawing on a 2015 poll of Virginia residents, this study evaluates views about campus sexual assault policy. Results indicate that two thirds of the public feel universities can effectively respond to sex crime and a large majority favors MR. Some differences in public opinion are evident. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Reality Asserts Itself: Public Opinion on Iraq and the Elasticity of Reality

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Baum ◽  
Tim Groeling
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sustained Change ◽  
Disaggregated Data ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPrevailing theories hold that U.S. public support for a war depends primarily on its degree of success, U.S. casualties, or conflict goals. Yet, research into the framing of foreign policy shows that public perceptions concerning each of these factors are often endogenous and malleable by elites. In this article, we argue that both elite rhetoric and the situation on the ground in the conflict affect public opinion, but the qualities that make such information persuasive vary over time and with circumstances. Early in a conflict, elites (especially the president) have an informational advantage that renders public perceptions of “reality” very elastic. As events unfold and as the public gathers more information, this elasticity recedes, allowing alternative frames to challenge the administration's preferred frame. We predict that over time the marginal impact of elite rhetoric and reality will decrease, although a sustained change in events may eventually restore their influence. We test our argument through a content analysis of news coverage of the Iraq war from 2003 through 2007, an original survey of public attitudes regarding Iraq, and partially disaggregated data from more than 200 surveys of public opinion on the war.

scholarly journals Modeling Public Opinion Reversal Process with the Considerations of External Intervention Information and Individual Internal Characteristics

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinggui Chen ◽  
Yulong Wang ◽  
Jianjun Yang ◽  
Guodong Cong
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
External Information ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reversal Process ◽  
Information Intensity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
External Intervention

With the rapid development of “we media” technology, external information about the same sudden hot social event is often involved repetitiously, leading to frequent public opinion reversal. However, the phenomenon of public opinion reversal process usually has a long-lasting duration and spreads wide, making the event itself attract the widespread attention of ordinary people. Focusing on the public opinion reversal process of sudden social hot topic (a popular and widely discussed issue), this paper firstly identifies the internal and external factors that affect the reversal, namely individual internal characteristics and external intervention information. Secondly, information intensity and the amount of information perceived by individuals are introduced to describe the impact of external intervention information on the public opinion reversal. Thirdly, the parameters of individual attention and conservation are used to describe the process of individual’s selection of external information, so as to reveal the influence of the internal characteristics on public opinion reversal, and then build a public opinion reversal model. Fourthly, the effects of information intensity and individual attention, as well as individual conservation on the process of public opinion reversal are analyzed by simulation experiment. Simulation results show that: (1) the intensity of external intervention information affects the direction and degree of public opinion reversal; (2) when individual conservation is strong or individual attention is weak, even if external intervention information is strong, there will still be no obvious reversal of public opinion. Subsequently, the rationality and effectiveness of the proposed model are verified by a real case. Finally, some recommendations and policy implications are also given.

Campus Sexual Assault Policies: A Feminist Policy Analysis Framework

Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-412
Author(s):  
Molly C. Driessen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Task Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Campus Sexual Assault

The purpose of this study is to conduct a feminist-based policy analysis to examine the role of power in campus sexual assault policies. This research investigated the role of power in campus policies that are in response to addressing sexual assault using a feminist policy analysis framework. McPhail’s (2003) Feminist-Based Policy Analysis Framework was used to study the policy-setting documents authored by the United States (U.S.) Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault that was established in 2014. Together, these documents encompass the federal guidelines for college campuses’ compliance, rights, and responsibility under Title IX. The Framework provides four questions to consider when analyzing the role of power within a policy. Several strengths of the policies are identified as well as tension between the power of institutions versus the power of student survivors, specifically in mandatory reporting policies. Implications for social work research, practice, and policy are explored along with identifying the study’s limitations and future research suggestions.

scholarly journals Responsibilization and Sexual Stigma Under Austerity: Surveying Public Support for Government-Funded PrEP in England

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 643-653
Author(s):  
Timothy Hildebrandt ◽  
Leticia Bode ◽  
Jessica S. C. Ng
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sexual Stigma ◽  
The Government ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Media Narratives

Abstract Introduction Under austerity, governments shift responsibilities for social welfare to individuals. Such responsibilization can be intertwined with pre-existing social stigmas, with sexually stigmatized individuals blamed more for health problems due to “irresponsible” sexual behavior. To understand how sexual stigma affects attitudes on government healthcare expenditures, we examine public support for government-provisioned PrEP in England at a time when media narratives cast the drug as an expensive benefit for a small, irresponsible social group and the National Health Service’s long-term sustainability was in doubt. Methods This paper uses data from an original survey (N = 738) conducted in September 2016, when public opinion should be most sensitive to sexual stigma. A survey experiment tests how the way beneficiaries of PrEP were described affected support for NHS provision of it. Contrary to expectations, we found that support was high (mean = 3.86 on a scale of 1 to 5) irrespective of language used or beneficiary group mentioned. Differences between conditions were negligible. Discussion Sexual stigma does not diminish support for government-funded PrEP, which may be due to reverence for the NHS; resistance to responsibilization generally; or just to HIV, with the public influenced by sympathy and counter-messaging. Social policy implications Having misjudged public attitudes, it may be difficult for the government to continue to justify not funding PrEP; the political rationale for contracting out its provision is unnecessary and flawed. With public opinion resilient to responsibilization narratives and sexual stigma even under austerity, welfare retrenchment may be more difficult than social policymakers presume.

scholarly journals Public Perceptions of the Stigmatization of Wrongly Convicted Individuals: Findings from Semi-Structured Interviews

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Blandisi ◽  
Kimberley Clow ◽  
Rosemary Ricciardelli
Keyword(s):  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Gainful Employment ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Central ◽  
Research And Education ◽  
Public Views ◽  
Insight Into

Many exonerees report stigmatizing experiences and difficulties securing gainful employment post-incarceration. Although researchers have begun to investigate public perceptions of wrongful conviction, there remains a dearth of knowledge about public perceptions of exonerees. To provide insight into how the public perceives exonerees, face-to-face interviews were conducted with members (n=30) of a suburban city in South Central Ontario. Data analysis included a constructed grounded approach to reveal emergent themes in the transcripts. All interviewees acknowledged that wrongly convicted individuals are stigmatized by the public and that this can have negative effects in many of their lived experiences. In addition, findings of this exploratory study suggest that some interviewees, indirectly or directly, stigmatize exonerees in their responses while being interviewed—lending insight into how the public views and reacts to exonerees. Findings and policy implications are theoretically framed in Erving Goffman’s (1963) seminal work on stigma. Implications include the potential role of research and education in informing community members, and all levels of government, about wrongful convictions in general, and the negative implications of stigma, in particular.

scholarly journals The Impact of Law Enforcement Centralisation and Professionalisation on Public Opinion of the Mexican Police

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-120
Author(s):  
Diego Esparza ◽  
Antonio Ugues
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Police Corruption ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Police Forces

Pandemic violence and criminality are anathema to a democratic society. And yet, in Latin America, both operate side by side. Illicit activity has propagated precisely because the democratic states of the region have been ineffective at establishing and maintaining the rule of law via public security mechanisms like the police. This ineffectiveness has significant consequences for public support of police forces. Hence, an important question for students of state-building and democratisation is: What factors explain public perceptions of the police? We argue that police forces that are local and unprofessional will be less trusted and viewed as less effective than their more centralised and professional counterparts of state and federal police. In short, we find that centralisation and professionalisation mitigate the impact of crime victimisation and police corruption on the public opinion of the police in Mexico. These findings are drawn from an analysis of the National Survey of Victimisation and Perceptions of Public Security (ENVIPE) in Mexico for 2012 and 2018.

Examining the Role of Gender in Educational Policy Formation: The Case of Campus Sexual Assault Legislation, 2007–2017

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-643
Author(s):  
DAVID R. JOHNSON ◽  
LIANG ZHANG
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
State Policy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Policy Adoption ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Persistent Problem ◽  
Campus Sexual Assault ◽  
State Policy Adoption ◽  
Sexual Assault Policy

The persistent problem of sexual assault on college campuses is receiving attention in both the public sphere and state legislatures. Although a considerable body of research examines various aspects of campus sexual assault, such as rates and reporting, scholars have not examined how state characteristics and interstate dynamics influence the policy process related to campus sexual assault. This gap is compounded by an underemphasis on gender in theories of state policy adoption, even as a record number of women serve in state legislatures. Drawing on a data set that captures the introduction and enactment of campus sexual assault legislation between 2007 and 2017, David R. Johnson and Liang Zhang examine in this article how the state policy adoption and diffusion framework explains the introduction and enactment of campus sexual assault policy. The results of their study show that the number of forcible sex offenses at public colleges, the number of female Democrats in state senates, contributions from women’s interest groups, gubernatorial power, Republican influence, and bipartisan sponsorship influence the campus sexual assault policy process, with varying influence across legislative stages. The authors discuss the implications of their findings for researchers interested in policy adoption and gender issues as well as for advocates working on campus sexual assault policy reform.

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