Citation

Kerr N, Tully RJ, Völlm B. Sex. Abuse 2018; 30(6): 659-675.

Affiliation

University of Nottingham, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1079063217691964

PMID

28183224

Abstract

The general public has been shown to hold negative attitudes toward sexual offenders, sex offender treatment, and the rehabilitation of sexual offenders. It appears pertinent to the success of sex offender management strategies that utilise volunteers that selected volunteers do not share these attitudes. Here, volunteers for Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), a community-based initiative supporting the reintegration of sex offenders, completed three validated psychometric measures assessing attitudes toward sex offenders in general and toward their treatment and rehabilitation. Responses were compared with a U.K. general public sample. The results showed that volunteers held more positive attitudes toward sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and sex offender rehabilitation than the U.K. general public sample. The significance of these findings is discussed alongside directions for future research.

Language: en

Keywords

CoSA; attitudes; rehabilitation; sexual offending; treatment; volunteering