Community notification laws for sex offenders: Possible mediators and moderators of citizen coping

Community notification laws have emerged from the trend toward proactive crime control mechanisms, such as community policing and offender registration laws. The current study investigated citizen reactions to notifications of sex offenders in the neighborhood. Lazarus' model of stress and coping served as the conceptual framework for the study. Hypotheses were as follows: (1) gender and parenthood would significantly predict outcome value; (2) marital status would moderate the relations between outcome value and gender and parenthood; (3) outcome value would significantly predict fear of crime; (4) fear of crime would mediate the relation between outcome value and coping; (5) situational locus of control would moderate the relation between fear of crime and coping strategy; and (6) situational locus of control would be a stronger moderator of the relation between fear of crime and coping strategy than dispositional locus of control.; Telephone surveys were conducted with 250 residents of the City of Tuscaloosa who have received a sex offender notification. Hierarchical regression procedures were used to analyze results. As hypothesized, gender and parenthood significantly predicted outcome value; however, marital status did not moderate the relations between these variables. Outcome value significantly predicted fear of crime, which mediated the relation between the former variable and coping. The data did not support the fifth and sixth hypotheses; neither locus of control variable moderated the relation between fear of crime and coping strategy.; Possible policy implications arose from the current results. For instance, although fear of crime predicted coping, few crime-specific coping strategies were used by the notified citizens in the current sample. This pattern of results suggests the utility of community interventions geared toward specific empowerment against sexual victimization. Further policy implications arise upon consideration of constituent perspectives not typically recognized by lawmakers. For instance, although legislators have considered the perspectives of parents, little commentary has occurred regarding the perspectives of the children about whom they are concerned. Policy makers should consider ways to help parents address a sex offender notification with their children in a manner which maximizes safety.