Measuring public perceptions of sex offenders: reimagining the Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale

The Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO) scale is an 18-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure respondents’ attitudes toward sex offenders. Its original factor structure has been questioned by a number of previous studies, and so this paper sought to reimagine the scale as an outcome measure, as opposed to a scale of attitudes. A face validity analysis produced a provisional three-factor structure underlying the CATSO: ‘punitiveness,’ ‘stereotype endorsement,’ and ‘risk perception.’ A sample of 400 British members of the public completed a modified version of the CATSO, the Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders scale, the General Punitiveness Scale, and the Rational-Experiential Inventory. A three-factor structure of a 22-item modified CATSO was supported using half of the sample, with factors being labeled ‘sentencing and management,’ ‘stereotype endorsement,’ and ‘risk perception.’ Confirmatory factor analysis on data from the other half of the sample endorsed the three-factor structure; however, two items were removed in order to improve ratings of model fit. This new 20-item ‘Perceptions of Sex Offenders scale’ has practical utility beyond the measurement of attitudes, and suggestions for its future use are provided

‘You have the right to remain silent’: current provisions for D/deaf people within regional police forces in England and Wales

Action on Hearing Loss explain that 11 million people within the UK are affected by hearing loss and this is expected to rise to 15.6 million by 2035 (Action on Hearing Loss, 2016). In 2011, a Strategic Command Course publication for Sign Health stated that services for D/deaf people within the criminal justice system needed improving and advised increasing the number of regional Police Link Officer for the Deaf (PLOD) schemes within police forces (Walton, Morgan & Wells, 2011). This paper describes a study that used a questionnaire survey to investigate levels of D/deaf awareness amongst Police Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Police Officers and their attitudes towards D/deafness, as well as their specific awareness relating to PLOD schemes. The D/deaf community were also surveyed to assess their communication preferences when liaising with the police and their previous experiences of police contact. Eighteen PCCs, seventy five police officers and fifteen members of the D/deaf community were included in the analysis. Results found a lack of awareness amongst all participants regarding PLOD schemes, differences between communication methods being used and those that are preferred, with only 11% of respondents from the D/deaf community reporting their experience with the police as ‘good’. The study also found a significant correlation between police officer participation in a D/deaf awareness courses and improved attitudes towards D/deafness. It is evident that policies exist to enhance the quality and accessibility of services for D/deaf people but what remains to be explored is the availability and awareness of existing provisions

Press coverage as a heuristic guide for social decision-making about sexual offenders

We present two studies examining the role of the British press in promoting heuristic-based decision-making about sexual crime. In Study 1, 1014 press articles were used in order to examine the role of the availability heuristic. That is, we used the recent highprofile Jimmy Savile sexual offending scandal to investigate how this case impacted upon press reporting of sexual crime. We found a 295% increase in the frequency of sexual crime coverage after this case, in addition to a 22:1 over-representation of sexual crime prevalence. Linguistically, tabloid stories about sexual crime did not significantly differ in the 12 months following the Jimmy Savile scandal, though broadsheets were less negative in their coverage after the scandal broke. Tabloid headline descriptors of sexual offenders were also substantially more offensive than those used by broadsheets. In Study 2, tabloid readership was associated with more negative attitudes and preferences for harsher punishments for sexual offenders, which we propose may be attributable to the affect heuristic. We discuss our findings within the context of dual-process cognition, and argue that the national press promote heuristic-based thinking about the issue of sexual offending. Future research avenues, and potential implications for press engagement, are also identified

Differential gaze behavior towards sexually preferred and non-preferred human figures

The gaze pattern associated with image exploration is a sensitive index of our attention, motivation and preference. To examine whether an individual’s gaze behavior can reflect his/her sexual interest, we compared gaze patterns of young heterosexual men and women (M = 19.94 years, SD = 1.05) while viewing photos of plain-clothed male and female figures aged from birth to sixty years old. Our analysis revealed a clear gender difference in viewing sexually preferred figure images. Men displayed a distinctive gaze pattern only when viewing twenty-year-old female images, with more fixations and longer viewing time dedicated to the upper body and waist-hip region. Women also directed more attention at the upper body on female images in comparison to male images, but this difference was not age-specific. Analysis of local image salience revealed that observers’ eye-scanning strategies could not be accounted for by low-level processes, such as analyzing local image contrast and structure, but were associated with attractiveness judgments. The results suggest that the difference in cognitive processing of sexually preferred and non-preferred figures can be manifested in gaze patterns associated with figure viewing. Thus, eye-tracking holds promise as a potential sensitive measure for sexual preference, particularly in men

Self-disclosure with dogs: dog owners’ and non-dog owners’ willingness to disclose emotional topics

Many owners talk to their pets about a wide range of issues, but there is very little research that has considered the content of this, or its impact on owner wellbeing. Verbal disclosure brings a range of potential health benefits, yet a number of factors may prevent individuals from confiding in their partners or friends (confidants). As such, in some circumstances, dogs may provide a more favorable alternative focus for disclosure. In a survey, we assessed dog owners’ (n = 286) and non-dog owners’ (n = 64) self-reported willingness to talk to their dog (dog owners only), their partner and their confidant. We used the Emotional Self Disclosure Scale (ESDS) for non-dog owners, and an adapted version of this for dog owners: Emotional Self Disclosure Scale–Dog Owners (ESDS-DO). Both dog owners and non-dog owners demonstrated a greater willingness to disclose to their partner than a confidant. For dog owners, their dog appeared to play a similar role as their partner, with greater willingness to talk to their dog about depression, jealousy, anxiety, calmness, apathy, and fear-related emotions, compared with a confidant. When talking about jealousy and apathy, dog owners reported greater willingness to talk to their dog than their partner or a confidant, but between-group comparisons (dog owner vs non-dog owner) revealed that dog owners and non-dog owners did not significantly differ in their willingness to talk to their partner or confidant, suggesting human relationships were not negatively affected by confiding to the dog. Participant age and length of relationship with their partner did not affect disclosure patterns for dog owners or non-dog owners. Males and females showed different willingness to disclose to confidants, but not to dogs. The results have implications for considering the value of dogs for human psychological health

Gaze patterns to child figures reflect deviant sexual preference in child sex offenders: a first glance

Research on non-offending heterosexual participants has indicated that men’s gaze allocation reflects their sexual preference. In this exploratory pilot study we investigated whether naturalistic gaze behaviour is sensitive to deviant sexual preferences. We compared gaze patterns of convicted heterosexual child sex offenders (CSOs; n = 13) with female victims to heterosexual non-offending men (n = 13) in a task of free-viewing images of clothed male and female figures aged 10, 20 and 40 years. CSOs dedicated more fixations to the upper body of the female child than male child figures. The pattern was different for the control sample, whose gaze pattern to male and female figures could only be differentiated when viewing adult figures. CSOs showed significantly greater difference in their gaze towards the upper body of male and female children than non-offenders. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for eye-tracking as a potential method of assessing deviant sexual interest

The Peaks: a clinical service for those with dangerous and severe personality disorder

Recent political initiatives have increased the focus on providing clinical services for personality disordered individuals. Increased attention on those identified as having dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) has led to the piloting of specialist services to trial new assessments and interventions for the DSPD group in both health and prison settings. This article outlines the development and provision of clinical services for those within The Peaks, the DSPD pilot service within Rampton Hospital. The Peaks, the first new-build health-based unit, aims to provide a comprehensive service specifically focused on addressing the full range of clinical and criminogenic needs of those within the DSPD group. The philosophical underpinnings of the unit and the practical components of the service provided are describe

The influence of remorse, intent and attitudes toward sex offenders on judgments of a Rapist

In clinical settings, sexual offenders-are encouraged to express remorse for their offending and acknowledge the extent to which they have acted intentionally. This study used a sample of 50 professionals, who regularly work with the victims and/or perpetrators of sexual offenses. A 2 2 design asked participants to make judgments on a short rape scenario varied on level of offender intent (spontaneous or planned) and offender remorse (remorseful or unremorseful). When acting with intent, the rapist was sentenced more punatively and rated as more to blame, more responsible, and more deserving of punish-ment. Ratings of the offender were strongly related to sentencing choice. Attitudes Towards Sex offenders were related to sentencing choice and were more predictive of sentencing type than the experimental manipulations. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the management of sexual offenders within the criminal justice system

Two studies on the prevalence and validity of personality disorder in three forensic intellectual disability samples

There is an extensive research literature on the association between personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and risk of future violent and sexual offences. Several studies have found an elevated prevalence of personality disorder diagnoses amongst those individuals with severe mental illness and criminal populations. While there has been some work on the prevalence of personality disorder among intellectual disability populations, it has been criticised as being unreliable and inconsistent. The present authors have taken account of these criticisms and recommendations in this comparison of 164 offenders with intellectual disability across three settings - community, medium/low secure, and high secure. In Study 1, DSM-IV diagnoses were made on the basis of four information sources: file review, interview with clinician, observations by care staff, and the Structured Assessment of Personality Interview. Across the samples, total prevalence of PD was 39.3%. The most common diagnosis was antisocial personality disorder. There was a higher rate of diagnosis in the high security setting, with no significant differences between the other two settings. There was no diagnosis of dependent PD, indicating that assessors were not overly influenced by the developmental disability itself. In Study 2 it was found that increase in severity of PD (as indicated by PCL-R scores and/or the number of PD diagnoses) showed a strong lawful relationship with instruments predicting future violence (VRAG, RM 2000/V) and a weaker relationship with instruments predicting future sexual offences (Static-99, RM 2000/S). The results indicate the utility of PD classification in this client group and that a number of individuals with PD classification are being managed successfully in community settings. These findings have considerable implications for staffing, both in terms of which individuals can be treated by these services and staff trainin

The emotional representation of sexual crime in the national British press

The relationships between the media, public attitudes, and crime are complex, with evidence suggesting that public interaction with these press reports influencing wider social and political attitudes. Here, 543 articles from 8 of the 10 most-read British national newspapers were examined in terms of their representativeness of crime rates, and their linguistic properties. Results include a 9:1 representation of sexual crime, a 2.5:1 representation of violent crime, and a 1:4 representation of acquisitive crime within press articles compared with official statistics. Rating the linguistic content indicates that sexual crime articles comprised angrier and more emotionally negative tones than stories on all other groups. Tabloid and broadsheet differences were found in headlines, but not in the main bodies of the articles. Cognitive–experiential self-theory is offered as just one social psychological framework for understanding the role of emotion in sexual crime reporting