Sex Differences in Rated Seriousness of Crimes

Abstract

61 male and 84 female college students completed a 25-item “Attitudes Toward Crime” survey designed to examine ratings of seriousness of crimes. In the survey, the perpetrator of the crime was always a male, but the victim was either a male or a female. Also, subjects compared the seriousness of the crimes with respect to harmful psychological consequences for the victim versus harmful consequences for society at large. Analysis showed a same-sex bias which varied with the type of harm. Men saw little harm to society compared to women, but only when the victim was a man. When individual harm was the issue, however, women saw more harmful consequences than men, but only when the victim was a woman.