TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceived Dangerousness Mediates Punitive Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders
T2 - Results From a Vignette Experiment
AU - Kruis, Nathan E.
AU - Ménard, Kim S.
AU - Choi, Jaeyong
AU - Rowland, Nicholas J.
AU - Frye, Tyler
AU - Kosaka, Rachel
AU - Williams, Alicia
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The current study used an experimental vignette (n = 1,093) to examine the effects of perpetrator sex and age, and victim sex and age, on simulated juror sentencing recommendations for individuals convicted of sexual offenses (ICSO). Path analyses were used to see if differences in punitive attitudes could be explained by perceptions of dangerousness participants attached to experimentally manipulated variables, as hypothesized by attribution theorists. Results show that participants consistently recommended longer sentences, higher fines, and indicated greater support for post-release sanctions for male offenders, older perpetrators, and for offenders who victimized younger adolescents. Path analysis demonstrated that perceptions of dangerousness partially mediated the relationship between experimentally manipulated predictor variables and recommended sentence length, providing partial support for attribution theory.
AB - The current study used an experimental vignette (n = 1,093) to examine the effects of perpetrator sex and age, and victim sex and age, on simulated juror sentencing recommendations for individuals convicted of sexual offenses (ICSO). Path analyses were used to see if differences in punitive attitudes could be explained by perceptions of dangerousness participants attached to experimentally manipulated variables, as hypothesized by attribution theorists. Results show that participants consistently recommended longer sentences, higher fines, and indicated greater support for post-release sanctions for male offenders, older perpetrators, and for offenders who victimized younger adolescents. Path analysis demonstrated that perceptions of dangerousness partially mediated the relationship between experimentally manipulated predictor variables and recommended sentence length, providing partial support for attribution theory.
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U2 - 10.1177/00111287231170106
DO - 10.1177/00111287231170106
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159095413
SN - 0011-1287
JO - Crime and Delinquency
JF - Crime and Delinquency
ER -