Overview of “Measuring the impact of sex offender notification on community adoption of protective behaviors”

Abstract

Research SummaryThe research presented here empirically evaluates the claim that sex offender notification is positively correlated with the public's adoption of protective behavior, while considering the impact ecological context has on the decision to adopt protective behaviors. This study assumes that people make decisions about their personal safety behaviors after calculating their perceived victimization risk; risk that is based upon a number of both personal and ecological variables including one's sex, race, parent status, neighborhood type, and whether or not one has received notification about a sex offender residing in close proximity. Holding that these factors impact behavior, a person then acts-or does not act-according to his or her calculation of risk. Because community notification is often geographically specific and because it is well documented that known sex offenders are concentrated in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods this study gives primacy to measuring protective behavior differences between socially disorganized neighborhoods and socially organized neighborhoods. Specifically, this research asks:(1) if notified residents undertake more protective behaviors on behalf of themselves or loved ones than do non-notified residents; (2) if there is a difference in protective actions taken by notified residents of socially organized neighborhoods compared to notified residents of socially disorganized neighborhoods; and, (3) if there is a difference in protective behavior between residents of socially disorganized neighborhoods who receive notification and those who do not.