Attitudes towards offenders with intellectual disability

Attitudes towards offenders with intellectual disability Rachel Worthington, Sarah Rossetti Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, Vol. ahead-of-print, No. ahead-of-print, pp.- Public attitudes are considered influential in the successful reintegration of offenders into society after release, however research into attitudes towards offenders with intellectual disability (ID) has received little attention. The purpose of this study is firstly to see if people hold differing attitudes towards the reintegration of offenders with ID compared to those without ID and secondly, to investigate whether this difference in attitude is because of differing implicit theories of intelligence (TOI). The effects of familiarity with ID were also measured. In total, 200 participants read crime vignettes depicting crimes committed by offenders with and without ID and completed Dweck’s “TOI” scale. Participants were found to have greater entity views of intelligence towards ID yet displayed more positive attitudes towards their reintegration than offenders without ID. The influence of demographics was mixed. It would appear attitudes towards offenders with ID are not as negative as initially thought. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of desistance and community integration. While some care must be taken when interpreting the results, this study demonstrates positive results regarding the reintegration of ...
Source: Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice - Category: Criminology Authors: Source Type: research