The Relationship Between Policy, Media, and Perceptions of Sexual Offenders Between 2007 and 2017: A Review of the Literature

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483802098556
Author(s):  
Judith Zatkin ◽  
Miranda Sitney ◽  
Keith Kaufman

Sexual violence is a prominent social problem that harms many victims every year. Perpetrators of these crimes tend to exist in a binary. Some are convicted by the criminal justice system, where they face sanctions such as jail time and registration and are demonized by society. Others never face any sanctions for harm caused and are exonerated for their actions. This review examines public perceptions of sexual offenders in the United States through the institutional-level constructs of federal policy, media, and institutional myths. A review of the literature on this topic from 2007 to 2017 produced 37 relevant articles, which were placed into three categories using thematic analysis: (1) perceptions about sexual offenders and perceiver differences, (2) media about sexual offending and effects of media consumption on perceptions of offenders, and (3) support for offender policies and effects of policy on perceptions of offenders. A review of these topics reveals that there are prominent institutional myths about sexual offending. A cyclical relationship is formed, where media perpetuates institutional myths, myths drive policy, and policy leads to media reporting. This review utilizes community psychology theory to examine and interpret the literature as well as to formulate research and intervention suggestions.

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan DiBlasi

<p>Cesarean delivery (CD) is the second most commonly performed surgery in the United States. As such, prevention of complications associated with this procedure is a top priority in nursing care. Nurses at the study insti- tution perceived that postcesarean patients experienced increased uri- nary retention after use of spinal morphine for postoperative pain relief. This observation prompted a review of the literature indicating that limited research had been conducted in this area. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of postelective CD urinary reten- tion and dose of spinal morphine. A retrospective, quasi-experimental, three-group design was used. Records of 150 patients, ages 17 to 39, undergoing elective primary or repeat CD were examined. Morphine doses included 100, 150, and 200 mcg. No statistically significant differ- ences were found between the three groups.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
April A. Kedrowicz ◽  
Kenneth D. Royal

Veterinary medicine consists of virtually the same medical specialties as human medicine, with veterinarians performing similar roles as medical doctors, albeit with different species. Despite these similarities, anecdotally, some perceptions of veterinarians as not “real doctors” persist. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare public perceptions of physicians and veterinarians. Participants were provided brief definitions of a physician and a veterinarian and then asked to provide a rating that best describes their perception with respect to 25 different personality characteristics/traits. A sample of 606 participants (unweighted) in the United States completed the survey. The results of this research show that the public tends to perceive veterinarians more favorably than physicians. More specifically, veterinarians were viewed as more approachable, sensitive, sympathetic, patient and understanding, while physicians were viewed as more proud, arrogant and overconfident. These results point to the favorable public perceptions of veterinarians. These findings are particularly relevant for veterinary educators who train the future workforce and have a significant role both in how the profession is portrayed and emphasizing the relationship between the public trust and social responsibility. Reinforcing the public’s strong trust in the veterinary profession throughout students’ education could enhance their own self-concept, self-esteem and overall mental health and well-being.


2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-461
Author(s):  
Timothy L O’Brien ◽  
Shiri Noy

Abstract This article investigates changes in public perceptions of science and religion in the United States between 1973 and 2018. We argue that the deepening ties between science and religion and opposing moral claims reconfigured the relationship between political identities and confidence in science and religion during this period. Our analysis of 30 waves of General Social Survey data finds that while Republicans once were more likely than Democrats to be more confident in science than religion, Democrats are now more likely to than Republicans. And, while Democrats used to be more likely than Republicans to be more confident in religion than science, this difference also reversed. These findings underscore the growing importance of political identities as predictors of confidence in science and religion and suggest that the politicization of science and religion fueled a perception that they provide not just alternative frameworks but opposing ones.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Dowling ◽  
Hayley Boxall

A rapid evidence assessment was conducted to provide an updated review of reoffending research on child sexual offenders from January 2010 to March 2020. Thirty-three studies examining 55 independent samples of adult and juvenile child sexual offenders were reviewed. Across most studies, rates of sexual reoffending were 15 percent or less, and rates of general reoffending were between 20 and 54 percent. The evidence suggests that the cumulative likelihood of both general and sexual reoffending increases until about two to four years after contact with the criminal justice system, then stabilises. Escalation from non-contact to contact sexual offending is not common. Finally, the evidence suggests that juveniles are more likely to reoffend sexually and generally than adults.


Author(s):  
Dawn Henderson ◽  
Tiffany Baffour

Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in the United States represents a critical social challenge to promoting the ideals and values of social justice. The ecological nature of DMC, a phenomenon emerging from the intersection of micro- and macro-level factors, necessitates the application of systems theories in understanding the issue and designing solutions to address it. This article illustrates the application of socio-ecological systems theory in thematic analysis, drawing associations across multiple systems between contributing factors to DMC in the juvenile justice system in North Carolina, USA. Analysis examined data from 6 focus groups comprised of 55 statewide stakeholders involved in the juvenile justice continuum. Application of socio-ecological systems theory in thematic analysis revealed structural and individual conditions associated with DMC, to include institutional racism demonstrated by biases present in stakeholders across schools and the juvenile justice system. The article presents ways in which micro to macro factors influence social challenges. Findings present an analytic strategy for constructing a practical model in qualitative research of contributing mechanisms to DMC and addressing issues of social justice in the United States.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott R. Winter ◽  
Stephen Rice

The mental state of pilots involved in commercial airlines incidents has been the subject of much debate. The current study seeks to use affective theory to address public perceptions of pilot behaviors and likelihood of perceived mental illness. Participants from India and the United States were given hypothetical scenarios about pilots who were presented as either sociable or unsociable. They were asked to give ratings of affective measures and likelihood of mental illness. The results indicate that pilots who were presented as behaving in an unsociable manner were rated as more likely to have a perceived mental illness compared with those who were behaving sociably. Affect appeared to at least partially mediate the relationship between sociability and perceived likelihood of mental illness for both cultural groups.


1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 189-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Myers ◽  
William J. Sabol

Conventional wisdom about the criminal justice system suggests that extralegal factors such as race or employment status should not affect sentencing outcomes. In this paper we examine an alternative model of the relationship between imprisonment and unemployment and race. The model suggests that penal practices are shaped by the labor market conditions of a system of production and that prisons, as part of a larger set of institutions providing support for economically-dependent populations, help to regulate the most superfluous group of workers in the industrial economy of the Northern states of the United States—unemployed black workers who comprise a large fraction of the pool of “reserve” workers necessary for price stability and economic expansion. We find support for the structural model that links black imprisonment (and Northern imprisonment in general) to manufacturing output and black unemployment.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002204262097407
Author(s):  
Nathan E. Kruis ◽  
Alida V. Merlo

Prior work has suggested that provider-based stigma of substance use disorders may be one barrier to fighting the opioid epidemic. However, to date, provider-based stigma has been afforded little attention in the context of the criminal justice system. The goal of the current study was to extend this line of research by examining the impact of provider-based stigma toward opioid using persons to beliefs about help that should be provided to persons experiencing an overdose among a sample of 208 police officers working in departments in the Northeastern Region of the United States. In addition, this study explores the relationship between provider-based stigma and the anticipated on-duty behavioral responses to opioid overdoses. Results from multivariable analyses indicate that certain dimensions of social stigma are significantly related to officers’ perceptions of help in varying directions, along with officers’ experiences with naloxone administration and departmental policy pertaining to the use of naloxone.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Skye Stephens

Hebephilia refers to a sexual interest for pubescent children in Tanner Stage 2 or 3 of sexual development (i.e., early stages of secondary sex development; Blanchard, Lykins, et al., 2009). Hebephilia was recently proposed as a standalone diagnosis, alongside pedophilia, in the main diagnostic manual used by clinicians in Canada and the United States to diagnose mental health disorders, which ignited considerable controversy in the field. The dissertation examined the validity of hebephilia as a construct through three interrelated studies utilizing a large sample of sexual offenders from a Sexual Behaviours Clinic (n = 2,238). Study 1 examined the convergent validity of hebephilia in a sample of admitters and deniers. There was convergence among self-report, sexual behaviour, and sexual arousal indicators of hebephilia. Further, there was considerable overlap between pedophilia (i.e., sexual interest in prepubescent children) and hebephilia. Study 2 and Study 3 examined the association between hebephilia and sexual offending. Hebephilia is arguably most pertinent to furthering our understanding of sexual offending against children, as one could not act on this sexual interest legally without committing a sexual offence against a child. Study 2 examined concurrent validity by examining the role of hebephilia in sexual victim choice. Similar to pedophilia, hebephilia was associated with a greater number of victims under the age of 15. Further, hebephilia was associated with an increased likelihood of victim age polymorphism (i.e., having victims in other age ranges). Finally, Study 3 examined a subsample of offenders assessed at the Sexual Behaviours Clinic (n = 656) whose criminal records were coded and analyzed in order to assess the predictive validity of hebephilia. Both pedophilia and hebephilia were associated with an increased likelihood of sexual non-contact recidivism, after controlling for time at risk. Based on their high degree of overlap and similar correlates, the major conclusion of this dissertation is that pedophilia and hebephilia are more similar than they are different. Results are discussed within the context of the debate on whether hebephilia is a mental health disorder and the implications for the assessment and risk management of sexual offenders.


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