NCJ Number
224194
Journal
Federal Probation: A Journal of Correctional Philosophy and Practice Volume: 72 Issue: 1 Dated: June 2008 Pages: 2-12
Date Published
June 2008
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study examined community corrections officer perceptions of officer-offender social distance and its influence on officer perceptions of offender reentry needs and challenges.
Abstract
Results of the study suggest that, from the perspective of community corrections officers (CCO), social distance is not an important determinant of CCO identification of needs and challenges, nor is social distance an important determinant of CCO identification of niches, and not significantly related to CCO style. The results suggest that social distance is minimally related to CCO attitudes, and that officer characteristics such as gender, years employed, type of agency (Federal or State), and whether or not the officer carries a firearm interact with social distance to influence CCO attitudes toward offenders. Responses also suggest that officers do not collectively perceive officer-offender distance as a hindrance in the reentry process. Most research on officer perceptions has focused on correctional officers in institutional contexts. This study seeks to fill the gap in the literature by examining community corrections officers’ perceptions of the influence of officer-offender social distance on the reentry process. Data is utilized from a survey administered to 130 Federal and State community corrections officers in the Western Washington/Seattle-Tacoma area. Tables and references