Female Prisoner Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (F-PATSO): A Preliminary Comparison Using the Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders (CATSO-R) Scale

This preliminary report explores female prisoner attitudes toward sex offenders (F-PATSO) held by incarcerated women at a medium security, state correctional facility. Utilizing the 18-question Community Attitudes Toward Sex Offender (CATSO-R) scale (Church, 2008) and eight demographic variables, researchers distributed selfadministered surveys to 102 female inmates over the course of two days. For the purpose of this paper, and in order to determine if there is any variation in attitudes between groups, the author examines the prevalence of lifetime sexual abuse as reported by the inmates in relation to their attitudes toward sex offenders based on one of four factored areas from the CATSO-R instrument: Capacity to Change. Researchers of the F-PATSO study hypothesized that prisoner attitudes would likely mirror the measured attitudes of professionals and others who work with, and have personal experience with, sex offenders. In particular, the attitudes of the F-PATSO participants were compared to the attitudes of probation and community corrections workers in Montana, who were recently surveyed using the CATSO-R scale