Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public
Background. Existing literature suggests that individuals with intellectual disability are not always held accountable for their actions and forensic staff are unlikely to report their sexually harmful behaviour. Method. This research explores how categorisation of an offender as having intellect...
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50920/ |
| _version_ | 1848798368907657216 |
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| author | Steans, Jennifer Duff, Simon |
| author_facet | Steans, Jennifer Duff, Simon |
| author_sort | Steans, Jennifer |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Background. Existing literature suggests that individuals with intellectual disability are not always held accountable for their actions and forensic staff are unlikely to report their sexually harmful behaviour.
Method. This research explores how categorisation of an offender as having intellectual disability and the framing of an offence as planned or opportunistic, impacts upon ratings of risk, blame and intent by forensic staff and the general public. The impact of pre-existing attitudes towards sex offenders upon these ratings was also considered.
Results. Differences are identified between participants’ ratings when the offender is categorised as having an intellectual disability. More positive attitudes are associated with lower ratings of several factors.
Conclusions. Individuals with overly positive attitudes towards sex offenders could underestimate the risk posed by sex offenders with intellectual disability. These results are important to consider alongside the NHS Transforming Care Agenda. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-50920 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:18:40Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-509202020-05-04T19:36:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50920/ Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public Steans, Jennifer Duff, Simon Background. Existing literature suggests that individuals with intellectual disability are not always held accountable for their actions and forensic staff are unlikely to report their sexually harmful behaviour. Method. This research explores how categorisation of an offender as having intellectual disability and the framing of an offence as planned or opportunistic, impacts upon ratings of risk, blame and intent by forensic staff and the general public. The impact of pre-existing attitudes towards sex offenders upon these ratings was also considered. Results. Differences are identified between participants’ ratings when the offender is categorised as having an intellectual disability. More positive attitudes are associated with lower ratings of several factors. Conclusions. Individuals with overly positive attitudes towards sex offenders could underestimate the risk posed by sex offenders with intellectual disability. These results are important to consider alongside the NHS Transforming Care Agenda. Wiley 2018-05-15 Article PeerReviewed Steans, Jennifer and Duff, Simon (2018) Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities . ISSN 1468-3148 Attitudes towards Sex Offenders; ATS; Intellectual disability; Sex offenders with an intellectual disability https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jar.12467 doi:10.1111/jar.12467 doi:10.1111/jar.12467 |
| spellingShingle | Attitudes towards Sex Offenders; ATS; Intellectual disability; Sex offenders with an intellectual disability Steans, Jennifer Duff, Simon Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title | Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title_full | Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title_fullStr | Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title_full_unstemmed | Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title_short | Perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| title_sort | perceptions of sex offenders with intellectual disability: a comparison of forensic staff and the general public |
| topic | Attitudes towards Sex Offenders; ATS; Intellectual disability; Sex offenders with an intellectual disability |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50920/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50920/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50920/ |