NCJ Number
180025
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 23 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 1999 Pages: 45-53
Date Published
1999
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines gender differences in occupational characteristics of Canadian correctional officers.
Abstract
Questionnaires were sent to all 866 correctional officers who directly supervised male offenders in five prisons operated by the Correctional Service of Canada. Responses were obtained from 339 officers (39 percent), 86 percent male and 14 percent female. Female officers were more likely to be unmarried, better educated, less interested in the custody aspect of the correctional officer role, younger, less experienced as correctional officers, more satisfied with their job and more accepting of women as correctional officers. No gender-related differences were found in the variables of race, rank, security level worked, stress level, and quality of the working relationship with co-workers. Three of the differences between males and females were demographic (education, age and marital status) and thus were not affected by the prison environment per se. Of the remaining eight variables, there were significant gender-related differences in only four. Comparing these data to the literature uncovered few, if any, predictable gender-related differences from study to study. Figure, tables, note, references