NCJ Number
237782
Journal
Women & Criminal Justice Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: October - December 2011 Pages: 267-289
Date Published
October 2011
Length
23 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between gender and prison officer attitudes.
Abstract
For decades, scholars and policymakers have thought that changing the demographics of the prison officer workforcein particular, including more female officersmight facilitate progressive prison reform. This article explores the assumption that female officers are more empathetic and pro-rehabilitation and less punitive than their male counterparts by analyzing the relationship between gender and prison officer attitudes toward inmates and the purpose of imprisonment. Drawing on data from more than 900 prison officers in Minnesota, the findings suggest that although female and male officers may import different attitudes toward punishment and rehabilitation, organizational and cultural factors affect the officers' perspectives more than dispositional characteristics. Because prison officers are chiefly responsible for implementing policy on the ground, prison reform efforts require isolating factors that shape these workers' orientations. (Published Abstract)