Criminal Justice and Behavior

Correctional officers (COs) work in high-stress environments, frequently experience critical incidents and have shown high levels of burnout. The current review synthesizes and evaluates literature on determinants of CO well-being. The review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute approach for mixed-method systematic reviews. Eligible studies measured subjective or psychological well-being in frontline COs. Studies of disorder absence or nonfrontline COs or associated professions were excluded. Searches of psychology and criminal justice databases including PsycINFO (EBSCOhost) and Criminal Justice (ProQuest) were completed in June 2021, and data were synthesized using a convergent segregated approach. A total of 29 studies were included and explored individual, interpersonal, and organizational determinants of well-being. Key themes identified by thematic synthesis of qualitative research included job satisfaction, personal growth, and coping. COs can experience well-being, however, further research into determinants of CO well-being is required.

To perform their work effectively, correctional officers should feel safe. Yet, research explaining officers’ subjective safety is scarce and overlooked the context in which these feelings arise. This study explores the impact of shared perceptions of prison climate and work climate. Survey and administrative data of incarcerated individuals and staff from the Dutch Life in Custody Study were used. Multilevel analyses on 1,427 correctional officers (135 prison units) showed that (a) almost 20% of the variance in officers’ subjective safety was clustered at the prison unit level; (b) both prison climate (satisfaction with activities and visits, relations with peers, and meaningful activities) and work climate factors (organizational satisfaction and workload) contributed to officers’ safety; (c) the relative importance of work climate was high in comparison to prison climate. These findings indicate that officers’ subjective safety is to a substantial extent a matter of climate rather than an individual trait.

This article contributes to the literature on the antecedents and consequences of prison officers’ job satisfaction. First, we argue that organizational dehumanization (i.e., employees’ perceptions of being treated as tools by their organization) explains how work environment factors determine job satisfaction. Second, we propose that the role played by organizational dehumanization in the development of job satisfaction carries over depersonalization of incarcerated persons. The study (N = 357 Belgian prison officers) supports the mediating role of organizational dehumanization in the relationships between four work environment factors (organizational justice, appropriateness of material resources, quality of the physical environment, and perceived organizational support compared with that of the persons who are incarcerated) and job satisfaction. In addition, the findings indicate that prison officers’ perception of being dehumanized by their prison trickles down in the development of depersonalized relationships with incarcerated persons, and this effect is mediated by prison officers’ job satisfaction.

Little research has assessed community corrections staff members’ perceptions of the dangerousness of their job or experiences that make them fear for their safety. Although not the same as a prison environment, there are nonetheless dangerous aspects of working with probationers and parolees in community corrections. The purpose of this study is first to determine predictors of both perceived dangerousness and experienced fear among a sample of probation/parole officers and residential officers. Then we assess the differential impact of perceived dangerousness and experienced fear on the negative workplace outcomes of burnout (comprised of three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), secondary trauma, job stress, and job satisfaction. The findings indicate both overlapping and distinct predictors of perceived dangerousness and experienced fear. Also, higher perceptions of job dangerousness were associated with lower job satisfaction, while more experienced fear was related to greater emotional exhaustion and secondary trauma.

This study used data from 654 new officers attending several training academies in the United States to examine changes in recruits’ attitudes toward the code of silence. The results of multivariate multilevel growth models showed that recruits’ experiences at the academies strengthened their adherence to the code. The results also showed that shifts in officers’ attitudes about the community, seriousness of the misconduct, expected discipline, and familiarity with agency policies were directly associated with changes in their adherence to the code, but changes in job satisfaction and perceptions of organizational justice were not. Female officers exhibited less adherence to the code in incidents of physical violence compared with male officers. The results confirm the need for reform in police training. Specifically, academy leaders should ensure that instructors and training materials present positive images of the community as well as strengthen social control systems which reinforce the importance of reporting coworker’s misconduct.

The detailed study of officer experience has received relatively little attention within the policing literature despite it being integral to nearly every facet of their role. Drawing on survey data (N = 691 officers), the current study examines how the unique work experiences of officers (i.e., shifts, crime areas, duty assignments, in-service trainings) are related to their perceptions of confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) in the ability to perform different job-related tasks. Results revealed that more tenured officers, having worked a greater number of shifts, and those who completed increased in-service trainings had significantly higher confidence in performing both law enforcement and order-maintenance/service-oriented duties. Several other officer characteristics were also found to have varying levels of significance in relation to their confidence. Overall, the findings support the inclusion of more nuanced measures of officer experience, as well as the potential applicability of self-efficacy theory within policing research moving forward.

Public stigma toward people with prison records hinders re-entry initiatives. Although it is widely discussed in corrections, its measurement has been study specific. Based on existing literature, we develop and test a multidimensional public stigma scale. We examine the factor structure and dimensionality of the scale using a Qualtrics Panel sample of U.S. adults (N = 1,216) and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which show that 17 of the 20 proposed scale items produce a four-factor structure, including danger/distrust, dehumanization, dispositional crime attributions, and social/emotional distance. We assess construct validity by testing the relationship between public stigma and theoretical antecedents and expected support for policy outcomes. Results show that public stigma is positively related to belief in evil and racial resentment and negatively related to personal and vicarious arrest experiences. It is also positively related to support for disenfranchisement and punitive policies and negatively related to support for rehabilitative policies.

Prosecutors exercise substantial discretion within the criminal justice process, potentially allowing for discrepant treatment of criminal cases. The purpose of this research was to examine the association between prosecutorial implicit biases and victim gender and sexual orientation in an intimate partner violence (IPV) case. Participants, 201 prosecutors from across the United States, completed two Implicit Association Tests to measure implicit gender attitudes and implicit attitudes regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer individuals. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions (opposite-sex couple/female victim, opposite-sex couple/male victim, same-sex couple/female victim, same-sex couple/male victim) and read a case file of an alleged IPV arrest. Consistent with our hypotheses, prosecutors were 65% more likely to prosecute under the severest criminal penalty when the victim was female or included an opposite-sex couple. However, we found no evidence that implicit biases related to prosecutorial decisions.