Factors Influencing Attitudes Towards Ex-Offenders

<p>Every day, incarcerated individuals are being released back into the general population having served their time. However, these released ex-offenders are 83% likely to re-offend if they are not able to reintegrate properly (Alper et al., 2018). The present research explored how various factors of ex-offenders and community observers could have an influence on attitudes towards ex-offenders upon reintegration. Specifically, we looked at the influence of three manipulated characteristics of a hypothetical ex-offender, race, gender, and age, which were presented to the participant in the form of a vignette. After reading one randomly assigned vignette, the participants were asked to rate their attitudes on three dependent measures (attitudes towards ex-offenders, explicit racial bias, and explicit gender bias). There were significant results showing a more positive attitude towards the Black male who didn’t take responsibility. All other results were not statistically significant. Despite the results, this research provided further evidence and future directions for understanding what factors influence positive attitudes towards ex-offenders to help them reintegrate successfully.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychological Science

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Mosser, Sydney

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Jon Barch

• Psychology
• Ex-offender reintegration
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/710

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.nmu.edu:theses-1740