Victoria Simpson Beck

Violence Against Women in Video Games A Prequel or Sequel to Rape Myth Acceptance

Current research suggests a link between negative attitudes toward women and violence against women, and it also suggests that media may condition such negative attitudes. When considering the tremendous and continued growth of video game sales, and the resulting proliferation of sexual objectification and violence against women in some video games, it is lamentable that there is a dearth of research exploring the effect of such imagery on attitudes toward women. This study is the first study to use actual video game playing and control for causal order, when exploring the effect of sexual exploitation and violence against women in video games on attitudes toward women. By employing a Solomon Four-Group experimental research design, this exploratory study found that a video game depicting sexual objectification of women and violence against women resulted in statistically significant increased rape myths acceptance (rape-supportive attitudes) for male study participants but not for female participants.

Sex offender notification and protective behavior.

A primary purpose of sex offender community notification statutes is to give community members the opportunity to engage in precautionary behavior to prevent victimization. This exploratory study examines the effect of notification by comparing the behavior of 87 Hamilton County, Ohio, residents receiving sex offender notification to the behavior of 149 other residents who had not received notification. The findings indicate that notified respondents are significantly more likely to engage in behaviors to protect themselves and others from victimization, and to engage in community reporting behavior.

Community Response to Sex Offenders

Sex offender community notification statutes have been enacted to provide community members with relevant information for assessing risk of sexual victimization and to guide precautionary behavior. Prior research has found that community members receiving sex offender notification are significantly more likely to engage in precautionary measures to prevent crime victimization to themselves and household members, and has indicated that sex offender notification is significantly related to self-fear of victimization. Research has not, however, taken into consideration the relationship between protective behavior, fear of victimization, and perceived risk of victimization. This study expands the literature on notification statutes by comparing the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions of community members who have received sex offender notification with the reactions of community members who have not. Drawing upon survey analysis from Hamilton County, Ohio, we find that receiving notification that a sex offender has moved into a community significantly influences perceived risk of victimization and the behaviors individuals engage in to protect household members from crime victimization, but does not produce a significant effect on fear of victimization.

Sex Offender Notification: A Cross‐State Comparison

Crime prevention programs have increasingly become more reliant on community involvement in policing efforts. In 1996, the federal government enacted Megan’s Law requiring states to implement community notification procedures for offenders convicted of sexually violent offenses or crimes against children, or risk losing 10% of their federal anti‐crime funding. Currently, all states have sex offender notification procedures; however, the notification process varies by state. This paper compares data from a survey of residents in Jefferson County, Kentucky, where a passive notification process is used by the state police, with data from a survey of Hamilton County, Ohio residents, where an aggressive notification process is used by the county sheriff. Study findings indicate that Ohio’s aggressive notification process is more effective in getting the word out, but that variation in the notification process does not influence the extent to which community members perceive risk of victimization, fear victimization, or engage in protective behavior.

Testing a model to predict online cheating—Much ado about nothing:

Much has been written about student and faculty opinions on academic integrity in testing. Currently, concerns appear to focus more narrowly on online testing, generally based on anecdotal assumptions that online students are more likely to engage in academic dishonesty in testing than students in traditional on-campus courses. To address such assumptions, a statistical model to predict examination scores was recently used to predict academic dishonesty in testing. Using measures of human capital variables (for example, grade point average, class rank) to predict examination scores, the model provides for a comparison of R2 statistics. This model proposes that the more human capital variables explain variation in examination scores, the more likely the examination scores reflect students’ abilities and the less likely academic dishonesty was involved in testing. The only study to employ this model did provide some support for the assertion that lack of test monitoring in online courses may result in a greater degree of academic dishonesty. In this study, however, a further test of the predictive model resulted in contradictory findings. The disparate findings between prior research and the current study may have been due to the use of additional control variables and techniques designed to limit academic dishonesty in online testing.

Romeo & Juliet: Star-Crossed Lovers or Sex Offenders?

Laws that set an age of consent to engage in sexual behavior are unique in that they are the only laws that can result in a child being both a victim and offender of a crime merely due to age. They are also unique because some states have used these laws in an attempt to reduce teen pregnancy rates. This study was designed to measure and report on public support for the use of age of consent laws (also known as statutory rape laws) to control and punish consensual teenaged sexual behavior, with a focus on Wisconsin and California where the age of sexual consent (18) exceeds the majority of states by two years. Study results indicate that the majority of citizens in these two states do not support the use of the age of consent laws in cases where two same-aged teenagers have engaged in consensual sexual behavior.

Is Sexual Objectification and Victimization of Females in Video Games Associated With Victim Blaming or Victim Empathy

The goal of this study was to investigate whether the sexual objectification and virtual violence against females in video games increases negative attitudes toward females, when addressing a variety of noted methodological issues. Study participants were randomly assigned to a control group, where participants played Madden NFL 12, or an experimental group, where participants played Grand Theft Auto. In the experimental group, participants played the game with a confederate, who exposed participants to sexual objectification and violence against females. Study results indicated that both the experimental and control groups had equivalently low levels of rape myth acceptance prior to game play. Immediately after game play, there still was no statistically significant difference in rape myth acceptance between groups; however, there was a decrease in rape myth acceptance for the experimental group. The decrease in rape myth acceptance continued and magnified for the experimental group, over time, to the point of creating a statistically significant difference between the two groups for the follow-up measure at the end of the study.