论文辅导 Effects of Offender Registry on Image in the Community

Information will be gathered to determine whether the age and race of a sex offender will have an impact on the perceived threat of representatives within the community. The question should be asked as to whether or not it is the nature of the crime that the offender commits or if it is really one’s perception of threat based on the physical appearance of the sex offender. Stevenson, Sorenson, Smith, Sekely, & Dzwario (2009) focused on the effects of how defendant race, victim race, and juror gender can have on public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders. Results indicated that women recommended registration of the offender more when the victim was White as opposed to Black. Support of registration also increased when the defendant and victim were different races as opposed to the same race (racial bias). Such effects were found to be mediated by retributive goals to punish the offender as opposed to utilitarian goals to protect society. These implications lead to the importance of determining whether a community member would refuse to live in an area where the sex offender is the opposite race as opposed to the same race whether victimized or not. This is an area that needs to be addressed since it may potentially be the underlying cause of people’s aversive racism as a means of perceptual threat.

The next question would be to determine whether one who is a parent will be more likely to refuse living in a neighborhood where a sex offender resides regardless of the race and age of the offender. On the other hand, it is also important to determine whether one who is not a parent will feel more comfortable living in an area where an offender resides with the belief that it does not matter since they are without children. Analyses of public opinion data from a poll of Florida residents suggested that people are significantly more likely to support such restrictions as to where the offender should reside (Mancini, Shields, Mears, & Beaver, 2010). Although the overall goal of many parents is to protect their child, does the level of protection and sense of security vary when the offender is perceived to be less of a threat? Would a parent risk the protection of their child over their own retributive motives? Addressing these underlying issues will help to determine if in fact humans have the tendency to be driven by other underlying motives in response to having sex offenders living in their community.

Another factor to look at is to observe the response of those who have previously been exposed to sexual trauma as a contributing factor for their response to sex offenders living in the community. It is believed that one who has had a personal experience with sexual trauma may be more likely to refuse living in an area where a sex offender resides regardless of their race and age difference. Most often this may be due to the fear of becoming victimized again. Such victims may also have a more harsh view of sex offenders overall. On the other hand, there could also be a biased tendency to specifically refuse those of a similar age and race as their perpetrator as previously described. Such measures of personal motives may help to suggest how victims will respond to the nearby presence of other offenders.

Addressing the issue on stereotypes is necessary in today’s society. Not only can it lead to false accusations, but it can also allow the perpetrator to avoid detection by remaining undercover. While conducting the prospective study another potential experience may be to see the tendency for community members to display stereotypical behavior when they have not been exposed to the education of sex offenders. In fact, Kiranjeet & Wilson (2006) examined sex offender professionals and school teachers and discovered that experienced professionals gave less stereotype than those who were inexperienced. In this case, personal experience was used as a mediator of sex offender perception. Such participants may then refuse to have any type of encounter with an offender due to their negative associations with the unknown.

What occurs with those who happen to be experienced with sex offenders? How will one who has been previously sexually abused respond to living in a community where they could face the potential of being exposed to another sex offender? Will familiarity vs. unfamiliarity have an impact on one’s response when presented with the faces of sex offenders? In one study, women reported higher levels of worry about being sexually assaulted by a stranger than by an acquaintance (Craun & Theriot, 2009, p. 2058). In the prospective study, the disclosure of one’s sexually traumatic experience will be reviewed to determine whether such exposure can affect one’s perception of other sex offenders.

Being notified that a sex offender lives in your neighborhood can be a serious potential risk in some cases. For example, a person may have found his or her ideal place of residence and prior to signing the lease, they are informed that a sex offender resides nearby. Would it be more likely for that person to decline the offer of their dream house or would they be more acceptable of sacrificing their life for such a situation? Would one’s socioeconomic status leave them without choice but to take the offer due to finances and poverty? These are all issues to look at which are not typically addressed. In some cases, notification of a local sex offender can increase the fear of crime, coping, and locus of control. However, it should be noted that fear does not mediate the revelation between notification importance and coping (Caputo & Brodsky, 2004, p. 251).

Although most previous research concerning sex offenders has focused on how the community perceives them as a whole, much of the studies fail to examine the underlying motives for one’s condition of aversive avoidance. The purpose of the prospective research will be to focus more on the sex offender’s race and age and participants’ race and gender along with other factors such as if they are parents and if they have ever been exposed to a sexual trauma. In this case the following hypothesis would be that 1. Participants of the opposite gender will be more likely to refuse living in a neighborhood where there is a sex offender of the opposite race. 2. Juvenile adolescents will be viewed as less of a threat than adult offenders with the exception of African American juvenile offenders. 3. Female participants will be more likely to refuse living in a community of sex offenders as opposed to males. 4. Participants with children will be more likely to refuse moving into a neighborhood where a sex offender resides as opposed to those who do not have children. 5. Participants who mention that they have previously been exposed to a sexual trauma will be more likely to refuse residing in a community where a sex offender exists as opposed to those who have not been exposed.

Method

Participants

Prospect participants will include a minimum of 200 students from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine located in the state of Pennsylvania. These participants will be recruited through the college by email and followed up with a research assistant. The email will include the link to an online questionnaire and will be viewable to all of the current students enrolled at the college. Participants will be provided with extra credit on an exam as an incentive for their participation by printing out the confirmation and submitting it to their teacher once the questionnaire is complete. It should be noted that the study will be available to the students only during the Fall semester of 2011 and can be completed any time during the semester.

The participants will include a fairly even number of 80 males and 120 females and will incorporate those from all races (mostly Caucasian middle-class). The mean age of the participants will be 36. Informed consent will be given to all participants and their privacy rights will be ensured. The purpose of conducting the study online will be to respect the participants privacy in which they will not be asked to share their name or address and can be taken at their leisure. Once the questionnaire is complete, the participant will no longer be able to partake of the survey again due to the one-time submission per college email account. There will also be less of an attrition rate due to the one-time online submission which makes the questionnaire easy to conduct and monitor. Two research assistants will be made available from Temple University’s undergraduate psychology program as an independent study and their contact information will be provided online in the event that a participant may need assistance.

Materials and Procedure

The prospective study will be carried out through the college and can be taken at any location where the student can access their school email account. This will be beneficial because it will allow the inclusion of participants who are students at the participating college. It will also be more convenient for the students as they will be able to take the test at any time during the Fall semester of 2011 without having to schedule an appointment and be monitored by a research assistant. The online questionnaire will be created by the primary researcher and the research assistants during the summer of 2011 which will be before the beginning of the Fall semester. Prior to conducting the study, approval from the University Institutional Review Board (IRB) will also be obtained.

A questionnaire will be devised to gather information from college students about their perception of living in a community where a sex offender resides. The questions on the questionnaire will initially ask the student to click on their gender (male or female); followed by race (Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, or Not Listed); if they are a parent (parent or non parent); and whether or not they have ever encountered an inappropriate sexual or physical contact (yes or no). It should be noted that sexual contact will be operationally defined as hugging, kissing, touching, grabbing, rape, unwelcoming exposure of another’s body, exhibitionism, voyeurism, child sexual abuse, incest, molestation, sexual harassment, or any other contact made in a way that was uncomfortable or traumatic to the participant.

Following the identification questions, participants will be asked to imagine that they have encountered a new home that had all of the features and characteristics of their ideal place of residence. The participant will then be given a series of hypothetical situations and will be asked to respond in the form of “yes” or “no.” In the first question, the participant will be given a picture of an African American juvenile sex offender and will be asked, “If this sex offender lived half a mile away from you, would you still be willing to move in the neighborhood?” The following questions will be repeated in the sequence of a Caucasian adult sex offender, an African American adult sex offender, and a juvenile Caucasian sex offender. The picture will include similar features but their race and age will vary since they will both be the manipulated variables.

In the prospective observational study, an examination will only be made on African American and Caucasian young and older sex offenders for the purpose of strictly examining the population’s preference between the two races. Four pictures will be shown and the nature of the offense will not be observed to exclude potential extraneous variables. For example, one may feel safer if the nature of the offense was for voyeurism as opposed to child sexual abuse. It also helps to maintain the purpose of the study which will be to strictly observe one’s predisposition to avoid sex offenders according to stereotypical threats of their race and age. Women will be excluded as examples in the study for the purpose of observing strictly male offenders and keeping the study more controlled by focusing on the specifics of male sex offenders.

Apparatus

An online questionnaire will be devised by the researcher and assistants through ProProfs database which allows quizzes, surveys, and assessments to be made without costs. Any complications with the database will be handled on a case-by-case situation. The data will be submitted to the primary researcher and will be manually analyzed for a closer observation of the results. For example, a closer observation will be necessary to see the response of those who specifically stated that they were parents in relation to the various presentations of sex offenders. The data collection will be observed as the results become sent to eliminate the future lengthy process of analyzing a large amount of data. This also helps to eliminate any syntax errors along with any validation measures that the database may have.