Individual determinants of punitive attitudes towards sexual and domestic abuse offenders

Purpose –individual factors predicting punitive attitudes toward sexual and domestic offences and offenders have received little attention, which this paper aims to address. Design/methodology/approach - in Study 1, 137 participants completed a 25-item online questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesised to predict punitive attitudes towards four sexual crimes: rape, paedophilia, incest and bestiality. In Study 2, 100 participants completed a similar questionnaire exploring individual factors hypothesized to predict punitive attitudes towards male and female emotional, physical and sexual abusers. Findings - the standard multiple regression models of Study 1 found that Age (i.e., being older), Belief in a Just World and Gender (i.e., being female) were predictors of harsher punitive attitudes. The models of Study 2 found that the low score on the Social Dominance scale was the most common predictor. Research limitations - this survey-based project presents a nuanced picture that could be complemented by the inclusion of a wider range of more complex factors and follow-on qualitative studies. Practical implications – the key message from this study is to inform the public on the role of personality factors in developing punitive attitudes. Social implications – it is vital to increase the legislators’ and the people’ awareness of the factors shaping the public impressions of criminal justice processes and evidence-based treatment effectiveness