Public opinion toward crime is complex. Research shows that Americans strongly favor punitive measures to address criminal behavior while also demanding the rehabilitation and treatment of offenders. When it comes to sex offenses, it gets even more complicated.
A 2015 study authored by Christina Mancini, an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Kristen Budd of MiamiUniversity (Ohio) found that numerous misperceptions about sex crimes–such as the myth of “stranger danger,” the perception of abnormally high sexual recidivism, and offense amplification–have been the impetus behind laws passed by “get tough” legislators spurred on by a misinformed public. Full Article
“public opinion has been a driving impetus in policy creation and additional sex offender restrictions,”
Yeah but ,they very diligently created that ” public opinion/ perception” in the first place!
It wasn’t the policy makers that started this nonsense. It was the MEDIA.
Being that the mainstream news is the propaganda arm of the government, they created and controlled the narrative of the sexual deviant straw man until it took hold in the publics lazy mind.
I remember the year leading up to the passage of Jessica’s Law in California, you could not turn on the 4,5 or 6 o ‘clock news without the first story being about a sex offender or the dangerousness of sex offenders. Day after day after day. Once November rolled around, and the brainwashed public voted for it ( if you even believe elections results are real) the sex offender stories on the news abruptly stopped. Gee why is that? Did all the offenders just stop offending after November 11th.
This article is only half true. Saturate the public with an idea that will trigger emotions, say ” see, we are guided by an angry public, ” then become the savior with the solution.
Policy-making should not be influenced by feel-good idealism and knee-jerk reactions but rather by empirical evidence proven by sound research.
“PUBLIC MISPERCEPTIONS ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS SKEW POLICY-MAKING” Who knew???? *eye roll*