Perceptions of sexual assault perpetrators, victims, and event depend on system justification beliefs and perpetrator atonement.

When accused of wrongdoing, a sexual assault perpetrator may express atonement, i.e.,he may acknowledge harm done, take responsibility, and make amends. Anecdotal observationssuggest that mainstream U.S. audiences respond favorably when high-status perpetrators expressless atonement, such as telling stories that minimize harm, or place responsibility on the victim.However, empirically, little is known about how perpetrator status and atonement influenceaudience responses. Informed by system justification theory, this vignette-based experimenttested the hypothesis that the more audiences are psychologically invested in an unequal statusquo (i.e., the greater their system justification beliefs), the more they will favor perpetrators (vs.victims), especially when high-status perpetrators atone less, and low-status perpetrators atonemore. In a pre-registered 2(perpetrator status: low, high) x 3(perpetrator narrative atonement:low, medium, high) x continuous(participant system justification) between-subjects design, U.S.adults (N=895) were randomly assigned to read 1 of 6 first-person stories by a white male whohas been accused of sexual assault by a female acquaintance. Dependent measures includedperceived severity of and relative responsibility for the assault, empathy toward perpetrator andvictim, and ratings of their likeability and positive personality traits. Hierarchical regressionanalysis revealed that, instead of the hypothesized interactive effects, there were consistent maineffects of system justification and atonement across perpetrator status levels. The greater theirsystem justification beliefs, the more participants favored perpetrators, the less severe they ratedthe assault, and the less they favored victims. Greater perpetrator atonement boosted favorabilityratings for him and the victim. Conversely, less perpetrator atonement diminished hisfavorability ratings, but also made the assault appear less severe and less his (vs. the victim’s)responsibility. Findings underscore the strong influences that perpetrator stories andpsychological investment in an unequal status quo have on perceptions of sexual violence.