Preventing Sexual Violence: Survivors' Attitudes Toward Sexual Offenders

Abstract

Increasing amounts of resources are being dedicated to the development and enforcement of policies and legislations targeting sexual offenders. Sex offender legislations, including notification, residency restrictions and community registration, are enacted in an effort to prevent sexual recidivism. However, these policies are often developed on the foundations of public opinion and outcry rather than empirical findings. It appears that these policies are largely based upon the false assumptions that most sex offenders offend repeatedly, that they are likely to offend against children and strangers, and that they cannot be rehabilitated. However, contemporary research indicates that the sex offender legislations that are implemented based on public opinion are not efficient in preventing sexual violence, and may even increase a sex offenders’ risk for recidivism by destabilizing them upon release.

In order to develop the most empirically sound and targeted policies, stakeholders need to have a voice. Survivors of sexual abuse constitute one such group. This population can contribute with imperative first-hand knowledge about important aspects of sexual abuse, including their perceptions of sexual offenders, situations where sexual violence might occur, and consequences related to sexual abuse. However, research directly examining survivors’ attitudes toward sex offender treatment and legislation is scarce. We argue that the perceptions of survivors of sexual abuse should be taken into consideration when developing legislation targeting sex offenders.

The current study examined differences in attitudes toward and knowledge about sex offenders between individuals who reported having experienced sexual abuse and individuals who did not report experiencing sexual abuse. More than 650 undergraduates have presently participated in this ongoing study, approximately 13.5% of whom reported having experienced some form of sexual abuse. Preliminary analyses show significant differences in attitudes between survivors and non-survivors. Survivors had a significantly less punitive attitude toward sexual offenders and sex offender rehabilitation. Specifically, survivors reported perceiving sex offenders as more capable of controlling their behaviors, and endorsed that they were more in favor of treating these offenders post incarceration as compared to individuals without a history of sexual abuse.

Disseminating the attitudes and perceptions of survivors of sexual abuse might help debunk existing myths about sexual offenders and constructively inform policy development. Consequently, scarce resources may be best utilized to implement prevention and intervention efforts that effectively reduce sexual violence.