Examining the judgments of pedophiles in relation to a non-sexual offense
| Autor: | Ross M. Bartels, Abbie Marono |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
050901 criminology
05 social sciences Stigma (botany) 050105 experimental psychology Pathology and Forensic Medicine Sexual offense Pedophilia C810 Applied Psychology Child sexual abuse Phenomenon Sexual orientation 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences 0509 other social sciences Relation (history of concept) Psychology Law General Psychology Clinical psychology |
| Zdroj: | Psychology, Crime & Law. 26:887-901 |
| ISSN: | 1477-2744 1068-316X |
| DOI: | 10.1080/1068316x.2020.1742339 |
| Popis: | Even though pedophilia is not synonymous with child sexual abuse, it remains a highly stigmatized phenomenon. As such, non-offending pedophilic individuals are judged as being dangerous, abnormal, amoral, and in need of punishment. It is unknown, however, whether a pedophilic individual would be judged more harshly than a heterosexual individual and a homosexual individual in relation to a nonsexual, nonviolent offense. This was the aim of the present study. A final sample of 309 participants were recruited online and allocated to one of three sexual orientation conditions. Participants read the same hypothetical crime report (breaking and entering) followed by a suspect profile that was identical across conditions except for sexual orientation. They then provided sentencing and moral character judgements of the suspect. Participants also completed a punitive attitudes scale pertaining to pedophilia. Results showed that the pedophilic individual received harsher judgments relative to the opposite-attracted individual, but only at higher levels of pre-existing punitive attitudes. These findings suggest that anti-pedophilia stigma can bias judgments about offenses that are not sexual. We argue that this is due to a ‘reverse halo effect’. However, we consider an alternative explanation based on the idea of interpreting information in a schema-consistent manner. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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