Sexual violence is a prominent social problem that harms many victims every year. Perpetrators of these crimes tend to exist in a binary. Some are convicted by the criminal justice system, where they face sanctions such as jail time and registration and are demonized by society. Others never face any sanctions for harm caused and are exonerated for their actions. This review examines public perceptions of sexual offenders in the United States through the institutional-level constructs of federal policy, media, and institutional myths. A review of the literature on this topic from 2007 to 2017 produced 37 relevant articles, which were placed into three categories using thematic analysis: (1) perceptions about sexual offenders and perceiver differences, (2) media about sexual offending and effects of media consumption on perceptions of offenders, and (3) support for offender policies and effects of policy on perceptions of offenders. A review of these topics reveals that there are prominent institutional myths about sexual offending. A cyclical relationship is formed, where media perpetuates institutional myths, myths drive policy, and policy leads to media reporting. This review utilizes community psychology theory to examine and interpret the literature as well as to formulate research and intervention suggestions.

性暴力是一个突出的社会问题，每年都会伤害许多受害者。这些罪行的肇事者往往以二元形式存在。有些人被刑事司法系统定罪，他们面临监禁和登记等制裁，并被社会妖魔化。其他人从未因所造成的伤害而受到任何制裁，并且因其行为而被免除。这篇评论通过联邦政策、媒体和制度神话的制度层面的建构，考察了美国公众对性犯罪者的看法。回顾 2007 年至 2017 年有关该主题的文献，产生 37 篇相关文章，通过主题分析将其分为三类：（1）对性犯罪者的看法和感知者差异，（2）关于性犯罪的媒体和媒体消费的影响关于罪犯的看法，(3) 对罪犯政策的支持以及政策对罪犯认知的影响。对这些主题的回顾表明，关于性犯罪存在着显着的制度性神话。形成了一种循环关系，媒体延续制度神话，神话推动政策，政策导致媒体报道。本综述利用社区心理学理论来审查和解释文献，并制定研究和干预建议。