Attributional Bias of Offenders in Rehabilitation Therapy Workers

Abstract

Attribution theory was used to provide a conceptual analysis of how personal responsibility and blame are ascribed to fictional male and female offenders. Thirty drug and alcohol counsellors participated in the study; half read a description of a crime committed by a female and the other half read the same description of the crime but committed by a male. Counsellors rated the offence in terms of the attributional domains of internality, control, and stability and then listed potential treatment targets. Offender sex influenced differentially attribution of blame with counsellors tending to attribute less blame to an offender of the same gender. This effect was particularly pronounced in the case of female counsellors.