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Attitudes and Sentencing for Sexual Assault as a Function of Age and Sex of Subjects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2010

A. Daniel Yarmey
A. Daniel Yarmey
Affiliation:
University of Guelph
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Abstract

A total of 768 older and younger men and women with average ages of 58 and 20 years, respectively, made judgments of recommended imprisonment for a rapist after learning about one of eight different versions of sexual assaults. Younger subjects in contrast to older subjects recommended longer sentences. The most severe sentences were given by young males for the assault of a demure woman. Older males were least punitive in sentencing. A reliable interaction among age of subjects, sex of subjects and victim demeanor indicated that younger and older women recommended similar jail sentences when a demure woman was victimized but older women were less punitive when a provocative woman was assaulted. The demeanor of the rapist (well-dressed vs. poorly-dressed) and the resistance/nonresistance of the victim failed to influence sentencing. Older persons and males were found to hold reliably higher anti-victim, pro-rape myth sentiments than younger adults and females.

Résumé

Un groupe composé de 768 hommes et femmes, dont la moyenne d' âge est de 58 ans chez les plus àgés et de 20 ans chez les plus jeunes, ont pris connaissance d'un viol relaté de huit façons différentes, et ont été inviteés à recommander qu'une peine d'emprisonnement soit appliquée au violeur. Les sujets jeunes ont recommandé des peines plus longues que les sujets plus âgés. Les peines les plus sévères ont été recommandées par les sujets masculins jeunes dans le cas du viol perpétré sur une femme modeste dans sa tenue, les sujets masculins plus âgés s'avérant moins sévères. Une interaction fiable entre l'âge et le sexe des sujets d'une part et la tenue de la victime d' autre part révèle que les femmes tant âgées que jeunes rendent des sentences comparables quand la victime a une tenue modeste, mais que les femmes âgées sont moins sévères lorsque la victime est provocante. La tenue vestimentaire du violeur (bien ou mal habillé) et la résistance/non-résistance de la victime n'influent pas sur la sentence rendue. Les sentiments hostiles à la victime et favorables au viol (sous sa forme mythique) sont plus courants chez les personnes âgées et les hommes que chez les jeunes et les femmes.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 1985 , pp. 20 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 1985

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