Public Attitude Towards California's New Law to End Lifetime Sex Offender Registration

摘要

California is one of four states in the U.S. that still requires all sexual offenders to register for life. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that would change the present structure into a three-tiered system on January 1, 2021. The purpose of this study is to survey public attitude toward lifetime sexual offender registration and examine the effects of an educational video on attitude changes. The sample consisted of 407 student participants from California State University, Fresno. The predominant demographic characteristics of the sample were female (57.2%), Hispanic/Latino (65.1%), aged 18-24 (86%), and within the Democratic spectrum (56.5%). Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, one sample t-tests, and ANOVAs. Data results indicated that the experimental group showed significant attitude change in favor of modifying California's sexual offender registration system after viewing the educational video. Educational videos can be valuable tools for increasing public knowledge and acceptance of evidence-based policies on treating and managing sexual offenders.