The relationship between nonenforcement of state pronography laws and rates of sex crime arrests

Abstract

The nonoperation of antipornography statutes in four states (Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington) for varying periods between 1973 and 1986 provided an opportunity to examine the impact of such statutes and pornography availability on sex crimes because nonenforcement is associated with an increase in the availability of sexually explicit materials. Arrests for property offenses and for rape, prostitution, and other sex offenses during the period before the suspension of the laws, when compared with the period during suspension, reflected no significant changes. Findings are consistent with other foreign and American studies that have failed to find a link between exposure to sexually explicit media materials and rates of reports of rape and other sex offenses.

The Use of Cyberpornography by Young Men in Hong Kong: Some Psychosocial Correlates

“…Contrary to common beliefs, naturalistic studies often failed to find a link between wider availability of sexually explicit materials and rates of reports of rape and other sex offenses in different countries, including the U.S. (Winick & Evans, 1996), Denmark (Kutchinsky, 1991), and Japan (Diamond & Uchiyama, 1999). A consistent declivity of rates of forcible rape was actually recorded in the U.S. in the 1990s, when Internet pornography showed a spectacular growth (Fischer & Barak, 2001).…”

The Role of Pornography in Sexual Offending

“…Those distortions can be compounded by dynamic and static criminogenic variables. Frequent exposure desensitizes the person by gradually changing his values and behaviour as the stimuli become more intense (Bushman, 2005;Carich & Calder, 2003;Jansen, Linz, Mulac, & Imrich, 1997;Malamuth, Haber, & Feshbach, 1980;Padgett & Brislin-Slutz, 1989;Silbert & Pines, 1984;Wilson, Colvin, & Smith, 2002;Winick & Evans, 1996;Zillmann & Weaver, 1999).…”

The Sexual Habits of Males Who Molest

“…When Condron and Nutter (1988) examined the frequency of pornography usage of sex offenders, paraphiliacs, sexual dysfunction patients and controls, they found no significant differences among the different groups. The lack of direct correlation between pornographic use and sex offences was also noted by others (Nutter and Kearns, 1993;Howitt, 1995;Winick and Evans, 1996). Having studied rape statistics during a period from 1964-1984 in four countries (USA, Denmark, Sweden and West Germany), where the availability of pornography had increased tremendously, Kutchinsky (1991) observed that in none ofthese countries Lim et al: Sexual Habits of Males Who Molest 303 did the incidence of rape increase more than that of non-sexual violent crimes.…”