Victims' Attitudes Toward Sex Offenders and Sex Offender Legislation.

It is commonly assumed that victims of sexual abuse feel more negatively toward sex offenders and advocate for harsher punishments than individuals who have not been victimized. This belief was examined by comparing attitudes toward sex offenders and their treatment, support of registration, notification, and residence restriction policies, as well as general knowledge about sex offenders between a sample of 129 individuals who reported sexual victimization and a sample of 841 individuals who did not report sexual victimization. Overall, we found that victims of sexual abuse reported more positive attitudes toward sex offenders and were more supportive of mandated treatment compared with nonvictims.