Browsing by Author "Cheema, Harleen"

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    A comparative profile of intimate partner sexual violence
    (2021) Jung, Sandy; Faitakis, Martina; Cheema, Harleen
    Sexual violence is prevalent in abusive relationships and yet, has received substantially less attention than physical violence in relationships or sexual violence, in general. The present study compared intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) with non-sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence against other non-intimate partner victims on demographic data of perpetrators and victims, offence and police reporting features, and the perpetrators’ criminal history and recidivism. Sexual and violent assaults reported to local law enforcement that led to an arrest were randomly selected. Analyses revealed that IPSV occurrences took longer to report compared to the other violent occurrences. However, IPSV was similar to IPV occurrences in that weapons were rarely involved, occurrences were more likely outside of the downtown area, and perpetrators were younger. These findings contribute to our limited knowledge about IPSV perpetration and highlight avenues for future exploration in the literature.
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    Person-first language: does it matter when describing persons who sexually offended?
    (2018) Cheema, Harleen; Jung, Sandy
    Negative community attitudes towards persons who have sexually offended may be detrimental to community reintegration. Poor community reintegration is a problem as it is linked to various factors that increase the likelihood that a released person convicted of a sexual offense will commit another crime in the future. Past literature has found that the ‘sex offender’ label serves to exacerbate negative perceptions through perpetuating stereotypes that include ‘all persons who sexually offend are dangerous and incurable.’ Person-first language has begun to replace labels as a means to put the person before the behaviour and lessen the immediate negative response. The aim of this study was to test whether person-first language could result in less negative perceptions made about a fictitious person being released into the community following a conviction for sexual offending. Two hundred and ninety one Canadian participants read one of eight randomly assigned public announcement vignettes and then proceeded to answer questions regarding their perceptions of persons who sexually offend. The results indicate that the Canadian participants continued to endorse negative perceptions of the population irrespective of the label used, suggesting that the labels were not perceived differently. However, when a person-first label was compared to ‘rapist,’ and ‘pedophile,’ participants reported less negative perceptions pertaining to treatment amenability. Implications for how information is disseminated by the media to the public will be discussed.
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    Person-first language: does it matter when describing persons who sexually offended?
    (2018) Cheema, Harleen; Jung, Sandy
    Negative community attitudes towards persons who have sexually offended may be detrimental to community reintegration. Poor community reintegration is a problem as it is linked to various factors that increase the likelihood that a released person convicted of a sexual offense will commit another crime in the future. Past literature has found that the ‘sex offender’ label serves to exacerbate negative perceptions through perpetuating stereotypes that include ‘all persons who sexually offend are dangerous and incurable.’ Person-first language has begun to replace labels as a means to put the person before the behaviour and lessen the immediate negative response. The aim of this study was to test whether person-first language could result in less negative perceptions made about a fictitious person being released into the community following a conviction for sexual offending. Two hundred and ninety one Canadian participants read one of eight randomly assigned public announcement vignettes and then proceeded to answer questions regarding their perceptions of persons who sexually offend. The results indicate that the Canadian participants continued to endorse negative perceptions of the population irrespective of the label used, suggesting that the labels were not perceived differently. However, when a person-first label was compared to ‘rapist,’ and ‘pedophile,’ participants reported less negative perceptions pertaining to treatment amenability. Implications for how information is disseminated by the media to the public will be discussed.