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Psychological mechanisms underlying support for juvenile sex offender registry laws: prototypes, moral outrage, and perceived threat
Author(s) -
Salerno Jessica M.,
Najdowski Cynthia J.,
Stevenson Margaret C.,
Wiley Tisha R. A.,
Bottoms Bette L.,
Vaca Roberto,
Pimentel Pamela S.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.921
Subject(s) - outrage , sex offender , juvenile , psychology , retributive justice , juvenile delinquency , human factors and ergonomics , criminology , suicide prevention , poison control , sex offense , injury prevention , recidivism , social psychology , law , medicine , medical emergency , political science , economic justice , sexual abuse , politics , biology , genetics
In three studies, we investigated support for applying sex offender registry laws to juveniles. Family law attorneys supported registry laws less for juveniles than for adults. Laypeople and prosecutors supported juvenile and adult sex offender registration equally—even though they perceived juveniles as generally less threatening than adults (Study 1)—because most people spontaneously envision a severe sex offender prototype regardless of offender age (Study 2). People are less supportive of registry laws, however, when they envision less severe prototypes spontaneously (Study 2) or when induced to do so (Study 3). Effects of offender age, offender prototypes, and offense severity were mediated by perceptions of threat posed by the juvenile sex offender (i.e., utilitarian concerns). The effect of offense severity was also mediated by moral outrage (i.e., retributive concerns). Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.