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

Abstract

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

Simulated judicial decision‐making for African and European American adolescents with illegal sexual behavior: The impact of medical data and victim race/ethnicity

“…These findings are in line with previous research suggesting that heuristics related to JSOs can contribute to harsher punishment (e.g., Harper & Hogue, 2017;Harris & Socia, 2016), yet they build upon previous research which has not explicitly measured the use of heuristics. Accordingly, these findings suggest that people who rely on heuristics as opposed to effortful, systematic decision-making strategies may be more likely to recommend harsher sentencing.…”

“…This the second known study to test for effects of race of the DSA and VSA in a juvenile sex offense case, and also to examine interaction effects between these variables, on a number of court outcome variables. Additionally, it built upon previous research suggesting that heuristics can impact decisions about punishment and SORN among JSOs (e.g., Harper & Hogue, 2017;Harris & Socia, 2016). Finally, the current study considered the impact of participant gender on suggested outcomes.…”

“…Besides extralegal factors like defendant and victim characteristics, non‐evidence‐based, simple heuristics may also lead to erroneous judgments by persons involved in juvenile justice decision‐making.The broader literature indicates heuristics impact judgments of people with convicted sexual offenses (e.g., Harper & Hogue, ; Harris & Socia, ). In particular, the availability heuristic (i.e., a recent sexual offense case was publicly recognized at the national level) and affect heuristic have been linked to more negative judgments and harsher punishment of male adults with a convicted sexual offense (Harper & Hogue, ). Moreover, heuristics can lead to the differences in judgments around sex offender registration and notification (SORN).…”

The Integration of People Convicted of a Sexual Offence Into the Community and Their (Risk) Management

“…Since the 1970s [10,11], arguably the major starting point for research into sexual abuse, we have seen the emergence of several narratives linked to sexual abuse and how best to respond to it [1, 12••]. In today's socio-political climate, even before the advent of the #metoo movement [13], sexual offending was viewed as a high-profile issue that factored in political debates [14][15][16], media coverage [17][18][19][20], and public discourses [3,18,[21][22][23][24]. Often these public debates were, and still are, punitive in nature [25][26][27][28]29•] and viewed within a risk management framework [11,15,30].…”

Professionals’ Understandings of and Attitudes to the Prevention of Sexual Abuse: An International Exploratory Study

“…This increased global sociopolitical recognition of sexual abuse corresponds to several interrelated factors, including increased investment in sexual violence education, increased reporting of historical cases, and a growing recognition that anyone can be a victim of sexual abuse which is, in part, seen as a consequence of the #METOO movement. In the last decade, in particular, we have seen a rise in the reporting of sexual abuse, current and historical, linked to institutions, sports clubs, charities, college campuses, and the church ( Australian Human Rights Commission, 2017 ; Tabachnick et al, 2016 ; Vertommen et al, 2018 ), and an increased media profile of sexual violence ( Harper & Hogue, 2017 ). However, sexual violence reporting and conviction rates vary widely between and within countries, dependent on the size, culture, and economic status of the country which makes determining a global prevalence rate difficult ( UNICEF, 2014 ; World Health Organization [WHO], 2014 ; see special edition of Sex Offender Treatment , McCartan, 2018 , for a broader international perspective).…”