Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe

It is assumed that the public holds negative attitudes towards sex offenders, yet an increasing number of European volunteers are involved in sex offender rehabilitation programmes through Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA). Public attitudes and their correlates have been mainly studied in...

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Main Authors: Höing, Mechtild A., Petrina, Romulus, Hare Duke, Laurie, Völlm, Birgit, Vogelvang, Bas
Format: Article
Published: Sage 2016
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32161/
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author Höing, Mechtild A.
Petrina, Romulus
Hare Duke, Laurie
Völlm, Birgit
Vogelvang, Bas
author_facet Höing, Mechtild A.
Petrina, Romulus
Hare Duke, Laurie
Völlm, Birgit
Vogelvang, Bas
author_sort Höing, Mechtild A.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description It is assumed that the public holds negative attitudes towards sex offenders, yet an increasing number of European volunteers are involved in sex offender rehabilitation programmes through Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA). Public attitudes and their correlates have been mainly studied in Anglo-Saxon countries; research in European countries other than the UK is scarce. To fill this gap, a web-based survey was held among web-panels in nine European countries (n = 200 per country). Measures included awareness and knowledge about sex offenders, community attitudes towards sex offenders in the community (CATSO), attitudes towards the treatment of sex offenders (ATTSO), public attitudes towards sex offender rehabilitation (PATSOR), support for CoSA, and attitudes towards volunteers working with sex offenders. Results indicated that clear misperceptions were held by a minority. Attitudes tended to be negative, but not extremely, and differences between countries were significant. The amount of support for CoSA was considerable and mean attitudes towards volunteers working with sex offenders were positive. The lower educated held more negative attitudes. Since webpanels were probably not representative on key demographic markers, the results are only indicative. Professionals should especially address the lower educated, correct key misperceptions about recidivism of sex offenders, and provide information about processes of change in convicted sex offenders
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spelling nottingham-321612020-05-04T17:43:10Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32161/ Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe Höing, Mechtild A. Petrina, Romulus Hare Duke, Laurie Völlm, Birgit Vogelvang, Bas It is assumed that the public holds negative attitudes towards sex offenders, yet an increasing number of European volunteers are involved in sex offender rehabilitation programmes through Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA). Public attitudes and their correlates have been mainly studied in Anglo-Saxon countries; research in European countries other than the UK is scarce. To fill this gap, a web-based survey was held among web-panels in nine European countries (n = 200 per country). Measures included awareness and knowledge about sex offenders, community attitudes towards sex offenders in the community (CATSO), attitudes towards the treatment of sex offenders (ATTSO), public attitudes towards sex offender rehabilitation (PATSOR), support for CoSA, and attitudes towards volunteers working with sex offenders. Results indicated that clear misperceptions were held by a minority. Attitudes tended to be negative, but not extremely, and differences between countries were significant. The amount of support for CoSA was considerable and mean attitudes towards volunteers working with sex offenders were positive. The lower educated held more negative attitudes. Since webpanels were probably not representative on key demographic markers, the results are only indicative. Professionals should especially address the lower educated, correct key misperceptions about recidivism of sex offenders, and provide information about processes of change in convicted sex offenders Sage 2016-03-02 Article PeerReviewed Höing, Mechtild A., Petrina, Romulus, Hare Duke, Laurie, Völlm, Birgit and Vogelvang, Bas (2016) Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe. European Journal of Criminology . ISSN 1741-2609 ATTSO CATSO CoSA PATSOR rehabilitation sex offenders http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1477370816633259 doi:10.1177/1477370816633259 doi:10.1177/1477370816633259
spellingShingle ATTSO
CATSO
CoSA
PATSOR
rehabilitation
sex offenders
Höing, Mechtild A.
Petrina, Romulus
Hare Duke, Laurie
Völlm, Birgit
Vogelvang, Bas
Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title_full Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title_fullStr Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title_full_unstemmed Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title_short Community support for sex offender rehabilitation in Europe
title_sort community support for sex offender rehabilitation in europe
topic ATTSO
CATSO
CoSA
PATSOR
rehabilitation
sex offenders
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32161/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32161/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32161/