Citation

Wu B, McCaghy CH. J. Crim. Justice 1993; 21(1): 13-27.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(93)90003-6

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Most polls conducted in the United States on regulating pornography have not addressed the attitudinal dimensions of the public's opinions. This study attempted to identify the factors influencing the public's opinions on legalizing pornography in three outlets: adult bookstores, adult theaters, and video rental stores. In addition to standard demographic variables and religiosity, attitudinal variables concerning the link between pornography and sex crimes and the importance of sexual privacy also were examined. It was anticipated from earlier public opinion polls that the following groups would favor legalization: males, younger people, single people, people with a low religious commitment, and more educated people. It was anticipated, however, that the two attitudinal variables would intervene between other independent variables and the support of legalization. Data were obtained as part of the Greater Toledo Survey conducted in 1988. Four-hundred-and-forty-nine adult respondents were interviewed by telephone after being selected by means of a random digit dialing technique. Basic descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and multiple regression were employed to analyze the data. Major findings include: 1) the sample was sharply divided on the legalization issue; 2) people who favored legalizing pornography tended to be male, young, educated, and less religious, and they tended to doubt a link between pornography and sex crimes and believe that the law should not intrude into private sexual behaviors; 3) the attitudes regarding sex crimes and privacy intervened between respondents' demographic and religious characteristics and their opinions toward legalization; and 4) aside from the influence of the beliefs, respondents' sex consistently demonstrated predictive power.