Abstract
Public attitudes toward individuals who sexually offend can be complicated, but they are generally negative in nature. Punitive public attitudes support the continued implementation of policy that does not effectively reduce or prevent sexual offending. The four studies in this dissertation were designed to clarify the offender characteristics and respondent traits that contribute to more punitive public attitudes. Study 1 used an online sample to measure the effects of offender race, risk level, and victim age on disposition judgments, and test for the potential influence of empathy on these decisions. We found that at lower risk levels, participants rated individuals who sexually offend with child victims as higher risk than those with adult victims, and that child victim empathy was a factor in the victim age main effect. Study 2 used an online sample to understand the relations between empathy for victims, empathy for perpetrators, attitudes to sex offenders, and support for punitive sex offender policies. We found that whereas victim empathy was directly related to policy support, perpetrator empathy was indirectly related to policy support through attitudes to sex offenders. Study 3 used an in-person Brandeis University community sample with a portable EEG headset to investigate whether measuring mu suppression, a measure of neural resonance that has been found to relate to emotional empathy, would allow us to extend the findings of Study 2. Although we did not see significant group differences in the EEG conditions, we were able to replicate the relations between perpetrator empathy, policy support, and attitudes from Study 2. Study 4 used a large online sample to understand the relation between Moral Foundations and punitive policy support. In addition to an investigation of the factor structure of the MFQ-2, we found that the Care, Proportionality, and Authority foundations were significantly related to policy support scores. The findings across these four studies give us valuable information about the relevant factors in public policy attitudes that can serve as intervention targets in future public information campaigns and inform other research to try to change policy attitudes and ultimately improve sex offender policy to more effectively prevent harm.