Correctional Officers: How Do They Perceive Sex Offenders?

Abstract

A sample of 82 correctional officers from two Canadian federal institutions rated their perceptions of three offender groups: sex offenders against women, sex offenders against children, and non-sex offenders, using a 19-item perceptions scale. Sex offenders, in general, were perceived to be more dangerous, harmful, violent, tense, bad, unpredictable, mysterious, unchangeable, aggressive, weak, irrational, and afraid compared with non-sex offenders. Sex offenders against children were perceived as significantly more immoral and mentally ill than sex offenders against women, who, in turn, were perceived to be more immoral and mentally ill than non-sex offenders. Training and offender management implications are briefly discussed.