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

Authors

Margaret C. Stevenson, University of EvansvilleFollow
Cynthia J. Najdowski, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow
Jessica M. Salerno, Arizona State UniversityFollow
Tisha R.A. Wiley, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MarylandFollow
Bette L. Bottoms, University of Illinois at ChicagoFollow
Katlyn S. Farnum, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2015

Citation

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 21, No. 1, 35–49.

doi 10.1037/law0000028

Comments

This article has been published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

Abstract

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