Would God Forgive? Public Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders in Places of Worship

Abstract

Previous research has explored the impact of faith and religion on recidivism. However, it focused primarily on violent offenders, drug users, tax evaders, and so on. Missing is an examination of registered sex offenders (RSOs) and the role religion and religiosity play in facilitating reentry. Religiosity and religious organizations may play a role in increasing social bonds and reducing isolation in RSOs. In addition, being surrounded by a faith-based community could act as a catalyst for identity transformation from a RSO to a community member. Using a national online sample of U.S. adults, this research investigates individual’s support of policies controlling sex offenders in religious communities and how demographic characteristics affect these views. Results suggest that Protestants and Other (non-Catholic) Christians are the most accepting of RSOs in places of worship. In addition, the stronger an individual’s faith, the less accepting they are of RSOs. Older, liberal, and educated respondents are more accepting of RSOs.

Public Opinion About #MeToo Victims and Offenders: A Nationwide Experiment

“…To understand public attitudes towards sexual assault during the #MeToo movement, I conducted a randomized experiment in January 2019 using an online SurveyMonkey audience panel (N = 1,067). The SurveyMonkey audience panel is a type of web-based opt-in survey, which has been frequently used by criminologists to study public opinion about sexual assault (e.g., Dum et al, 2017Dum et al, , 2019Socia et al, 2019a). Compared to nationally representative samples obtained using other methods such as the random digit dialing approach, online opt-in samples may produce data of the same or even higher quality, and are less likely to be influenced by social desirability bias (Chang & Krosnick, 2009;Weinberg et al, 2014).…”

Let Him Who Is without Sin Cast the First Stone: Religious Struggle among Persons Convicted of Sexually Offending

“…(Service User 2019, p. 145). The first study to examine attitudes of community members regarding the extent to which persons who have been convicted of sexually offending should be restricted within their faith communities found that acceptance is influenced by different demographic and religious factors (Dum et al 2020). For instance, Dum et al (2020) found that restrictive policies toward inclusion of persons who had sexually offended were endorsed to a greater extent by those with a stronger faith, and by those who held the belief that morality is individualistic rather than originating from God.…”

“…The first study to examine attitudes of community members regarding the extent to which persons who have been convicted of sexually offending should be restricted within their faith communities found that acceptance is influenced by different demographic and religious factors (Dum et al 2020). For instance, Dum et al (2020) found that restrictive policies toward inclusion of persons who had sexually offended were endorsed to a greater extent by those with a stronger faith, and by those who held the belief that morality is individualistic rather than originating from God. Thus, both formal and informal barriers can leave individuals feeling further isolated and rejected instead of experiencing the benefits others in faith communities often receive, such as kindness, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, and a sense of belonging.…”

“…It is not uncommon for this population to be isolated and rejected by landlords, employers, and family and friends, as the result of formal sanctions imposed by governmental and organizational law and policy (Levenson and Cotter 2005;Levenson et al 2007), by informal social controls in the form of disapproval and harassment from the community, and by self-imposed isolation as a response to stigmatization (Burchfield and Mingus 2008;Mercado et al 2008;Tewksbury 2005). Rejection by persons of faith and faith communities can also be a reality for persons who have sexually offended (Dum et al 2020).…”

“…Additional considerations for the poor alpha reliability for RC might reflect an internal conflict about their relationship with God. Such a conflict might be indicative of the expressed importance of r/s among many who have been convicted of sexually offending (Geary et al 2004(Geary et al , 2006Robbers 2009; Tewksbury and Mustaine 2009; Tewksbury and Zgoba 2010) and formal and informal restrictions they face to participating at all or fully within their faith traditions (Dum et al 2020;Harris et al 2017;Service User 2019). Another potential reason for low internal consistency reliability for RC in this sample could be due to the different types of r/s struggle measured by scale items (i.e., divine struggle, difficulty communicating with God, and interpersonal struggle).…”