RT Article
T1 ‘Once a sex offender always a sex offender’?: essentialism and attitudes towards criminal justice policy
JF Psychology, crime & law
VO 25
IS 5
SP 421
OP 439
A1 De Vel-Palumbo, Melissa
A1 Brewer, Marilynn B. 1942-
A1 Howarth, Laura
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/173654912X
AB The present research explores the proposition that psychological essentialism determines how we understand the nature of some types of crime and associated attitudes regarding how perpetrators should be treated. Specifically, we argue that people believe certain crimes are highly essentialized, and they treat offenders in those categories more punitively. Study 1 assessed the applicability of essentialism to crime, demonstrating that different types of crime are indeed more essentialized than others. Two additional studies demonstrated that essentialism beliefs play a unique role in individuals’ endorsement of policies regarding treatment of offenders who commit crimes of a sexual nature. We consider the implications of our findings for offender rehabilitation and reintegration.
K1 Crime
K1 Attitudes
K1 Implicit theories
K1 Public Opinion
K1 Sex Offenses
DO 10.1080/1068316X.2018.1529234