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16 Criminology, Crim. Just. L & Soc'y 41 (2015)
Vilifying the Pedophiles and Perverts: A Nationwide Test of the Community Attitudes toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) Scale

handle is hein.journals/wescrim16 and id is 196 raw text is: VOLUME 16, ISSUE 3, PAGES 41-60 (2015) Criminology, Criminal Justice Law, & Society E-ISSN 2332-886X Available online at https://scholasicahg .comlcriminologv-criminal-justice-law-society/ Vilifying the Pedophiles and Perverts: A Nationwide Test of the Community Attitudes toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) Scale Jennifer L. Klein University of Texas at Tyler ABSTRACT AND ARTICLE INFORMATION Sex offenders are often reviled and have difficulties reentering society post-incarceration-due in part to the negativity directed toward them by community members. This study uses the Community Member Attitudes toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) Scale (Church et al., 2008) to test perceptions of a national sample of participants regarding sex offenders, their crimes, and the official responses to their abuses. Using legal and stereotypical knowledge as the main variables predicting the elements of the CATSO Scale, the results suggest an inverse relationship between the level of accurate knowledge and negative attitudes toward sex offenders. Parental status and race also play key roles in predicting the elements of the CATSO scale. Additional research findings, policy implications, and limitations will be discussed. Article History: Received 04 February 2015 Received in revised form 26 August 2015 Accepted 27 August 2015 Since the late 1980s, there has been an increase in the amount of media attention paid to sexual crimes and the feared offenders who commit these offenses (Conley, Hill, Church, Stoeckel, & Allen, 2011). Increased punitive sanctions against sex offenders and the developed and continuously expanding sex offender registry are both evidence of the negative legal climate directed toward sex offenders. For example, in 2014, Florida doubled the mandatory minimum sentences for child rapists and expanded civil commitment laws to include more registered sex offenders than ever before (Involuntary Civil Committment of Sexually Violent Predators, 2014). Local reporters called the new expansions the most comprehensive overhaul of sex-offender legislation in more than a decade (Alanez, 2014) as it strengthened the already existing Jimmy Ryce Act (Jimmy Ryce Involuntary Civil Committment for Sexually Violent Predators' Treatment and Care Act, 1998). Prior research also suggests that community Keywords: community members, perceptions, sex offenders, sex offender registry, internet survey, national sample 0 2015 Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society and The Western Society of Criminology Hosting by Scholastica. All rights reserved. members (Roberts, Stalans, Indermaur, & Hough, 2003) and politicians (Texas Department of Public Safety, 2015) are in favor of harsh punishments and punitive actions taken against sex offenders. Although prior literature has suggested that sex offenders do not have high rates of official recidivism compared to other types of offenders (Hanson & Bussibre, 1998; Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2004; Levenson & Shields, 2012), many individuals refuse to believe this notion, further feeding into the idea that these individuals should be a feared group capable of chronic and predatory offenses (Lam, Mitchell, & Seto, 2010; Sundt, Cullen, Applegate, & Turner, 1998). Using the Church, Wakeman, Miller, Clements, and Sun (2008) Community Attitudes toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale, this study will examine how a nationwide sample of community members perceives sex offenders and offenses, legal knowledge about the registry systems, and the stigmas surrounding this group of offenders. Contributing author: Jennifer L. Klein, Ph.D., University of Texas at Tyler, Department of Social Sciences, Division of Criminal Justice, 3900 University Blvd. Tyler, TX 75799. Email: jenniferklein@uttyler.edu.

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