Behavioral Sciences & the Law最新文献

With the rise of digital technology, adolescent cyberviolence has become a growing global concern in public health and criminal justice. This study used nationally representative data from South Korea (2017-2024) to examine the prevalence of eight types of cyberviolence (i.e., verbal abuse, defamation, stalking, sexual abuse, personal information leakage, bullying, extortion and coercion) among adolescents aged 10-18 years. It also analysed differences between sexes, age groups and time periods (i.e., before, during and after COVID-19). The findings showed that male adolescents were generally more likely than females to be both victims and perpetrators of cyberviolence, except in the case of cyberstalking victimisation. The adolescents aged 13-15 reported higher rates of both victimisation and perpetration than their younger (aged 10-12) and older (aged 16-18) peers, except in the context of cyberbullying victimisation. Notably, cyberviolence rates were lower during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022) than the pre-pandemic (2017-2019) and post-pandemic (2023-2024) periods. This is arguably the first study to track cyberviolence among South Korean adolescents over an eight-year period using data from over 56,000 participants. The results offer critical insights into patterns of online aggression among adolescents across sexes and age groups and through significant societal disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Collateral consequences of the sex offender registry in the United States have been documented for decades, but few studies have examined whether demographic or structural conditions affect the frequency or severity of collateral consequences on sex offenders. We report on a nationwide survey of cisgender men required to register on a sex offense registry. We describe the impact of collateral consequences of sex offender management in key areas, including housing, employment, health, and victimization. We expand on previous literature by examining differential experiences of sex offender conviction based on sexual orientation and race/ethnicity. Non-White persons and non-straight persons were not more likely to experience collateral consequences in specific types of collateral consequence nor the range of possible consequences. The only factor that protected registered sex offenders from collateral consequences was educational attainment. Our findings suggest that the sex offender registry flattens all persons to a similar level of disadvantage.

Despite growing public knowledge of false confession cases, research with students and community members continues to find that people assume confessions indicate guilt. The present research explored the implications of belief perseverance: the tendency to maintain a belief even when confronted with compelling contradictory evidence. Across two studies (vignettes in Study 1; video interrogation footage in Study 2), students' pre-existing beliefs regarding confessions led them to assume suspects who confessed were more guilty, and were interrogated more justly, than suspects who did not confess. Further, although being presented with post-conviction DNA evidence tempered participants' views, pre-existing beliefs about confessions continued to impact both suspect and interrogation perceptions in Study 1, and interrogation perceptions in Study 2. The implications of students exhibiting these biases and current legal safeguards focusing on confession voluntariness, rather than veracity, are discussed.

The U.S. maintains some of the most punitive sentencing policies, but public opinion plays a role in justice policy. Although the public generally supports rehabilitation and less punitive sentencing for juveniles, less is known about public attitudes toward sentencing emerging adults (18-to-25-year-olds)-a population disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. This paper analyzes data from an experimental survey with factorial vignettes administered to college students to examine emerging adult age and biopsychosocial factors on sentencing punitiveness. Chi-squared and one-way ANOVAs were employed to evaluate group differences and multinomial logistic regression to examine the effects of the randomized factors on the sentence outcomes. The biological and psychological trauma experienced by the defendant convicted of homicide in this study were mitigating factors in emerging adult sentence punitiveness. The results provide insight into potential jurors' and future criminal justice professionals' consideration of biopsychosocial information in sentencing directly impacting justice-involved emerging adults.

As correctional jurisdictions and risk instrument developers look to optimize scoring for specific population needs, an open question remains - which method is optimal. Popular scoring methods range from manual simple scoring approaches (e.g., Burgess) to more complex machine learning algorithms (e.g., random forests). Prior comparisons between approaches have produced similarly acceptable levels of predictive validity. This study compares scoring methods beyond predictive validity to also assess calibration, item inclusion, and item weighting and discusses drawbacks of each approach. Scoring was developed for an actuarial release decision making risk assessment tool-the Reduction in Capacity Evaluation (ReduCE)-using manual (unweighted, Burgess, Nuffield, Nuffield 2.5, regression) and machine learning (artificial neural network, random forests) scoring methods. The machine learning methods did not outperform the manual methods in predictive validity or calibration and introduced drawbacks on item inclusion and weighting. The optimal approach for ReduCE was the Nuffield 2.5 method.

Rape myths are pervasive beliefs about sex crimes that can significantly influence trial outcomes. Expert testimony has been proposed as a method to mitigate the effect of rape myths within trials, but research to date is mixed. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the presence and content of expert testimony in a criminal trial of rape. Participants (N = 155) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i.e., no expert testimony, general expert testimony regarding rape myths, specific expert testimony discussing a particular rape myth). Participants rendered a verdict and answered questions regarding perceptions of the victim and defendant (i.e., believability, credibility, and responsibility). Though expert testimony did not influence verdicts, perceptions of the victim (e.g., credibility, confidence that the victim was raped) were most favorable when participants were exposed to the general expert testimony. Expert testimony did not impact perceptions of the defendant. Results indicate that expert testimony may be effective at influencing certain perceptions of the victim. Future research should continue to investigate other ways that expert testimony may be effective in mitigating the influence of rape myths.

Rape myths related to victim behavior and credibility influence police decisions, contributing to attrition at the unfound and arrest stages. How rape myth influence earlier investigative decisions (e.g., interview witnesses) is unknown. Addressing this gap is important, because evidence-gathering decisions are critical for successful case processing. I draw on the focal concerns framework and use data from the Los Angeles Sexual Assault Study (n = 616; Spohn and Tellis 2014) to quantitatively assess the effects of rape myths on three investigative decisions: interviewing witnesses, conducting pretext phone calls, and interviewing suspects. These tactics were underused. As predicted, police were more likely to interview witnesses when victims were credible and cases involved "real rape" characteristics. Other hypotheses were not supported. Findings suggest that police need more resources for investigations and more training on the unique nature of sexual violence, types of evidence most useful at trial, and effective investigative tactics.

Vignette experiments assessing rape perceptions commonly use samples drawn from convenient sources, like university students or online crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon's Mechanical Turk. In the current study we compared the ease of data collection, cost, data quality, demographic characteristics, and experiment conclusions across these two sample sources, which were collected in a vignette experiment assessing mock jurors' perceptions of a hypothetical sexual assault. Results showed it was faster but more expensive to collect MTurk responses compared to student responses. Samples varied across several data quality measures, with students passing more manipulation checks and returning proportionately more usable cases than MTurkers. We also found considerable demographic differences between the samples, as well as rape myth acceptance (RMA) and victim blaming attitudes. Findings indicate that experiments' results and implications depend on sample source; pinpointing the factors that consistently influence rape perceptions, including RMA, will require replicating studies using diverse sample sources.

Much of the rape myth literature ignores the experiences of LGBTQ+ people, and studies that do consider LGBTQ+ people's attitudes commonly treat LGBTQ+ respondents as a homogenous group or rely on small sample sizes that limit LGBTQ+ heterogeneity. In the current study, we use a large sample (n-total = 2962; n-LGBTQ+ = 634) composed of students and MTurk workers to explore rape myth acceptance among people with cisgender, transgender, heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, and other identities. We found that LGBTQ+ people had higher RMA than cisgender-heterosexual people. Disaggregating the LGBTQ+ group revealed important and unexpected intragroup differences. Notably, cisgender bisexual men had the highest RMA followed by heterosexual men and trans people. Given the empirical relationship between RMA and sexual assault victimization, help-seeking, and criminal-legal responses, elevated RMA among bisexual men and trans people indicates a need for targeted, identity-specific and LGBTQ+-sensitive rape prevention programs and victim support services.

Research indicates that marital rape is viewed by the public as less harmful to a victim than stranger/acquaintance rape. The aim of the study is to extend the research conducted by Robinson in 2017, investigating how levels of force influence perceptions of marital rape. The study also examines how rape perception is influenced by rape myth acceptance and attitudes towards women. The current study improves on previous work by controlling for individual differences across groups using a repeated-measures design. The results indicate that as the level of force increases the perception of marital rape increases. Positive attitudes towards women and low rape myth acceptance are also found to have a positive impact on perceptions of marital rape. Based on these findings, it is possible to recommend that further awareness of legislation regarding coercion and marital rape is required within the public domain.