NCJ Number
169150
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 5 Dated: (1997) Pages: 425-435
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Three hundred nineteen correctional officers enrolled in the preservice academies of the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were surveyed to determine their attitudes toward treatment programs in the prison system.
Abstract
The surveys were administered in classrooms to approximately equal numbers of officers at the beginning and conclusion of the preservice academy. The dependent variable consisted of a master scale with 59 dichotomous items designed to measure attitudes toward each of the six main treatment programs: academic, college, medical, psychological, religious, and vocational. The scale had twice been used previously in studies of the attitudes of inservice correctional officers. Results revealed that three variables were of particular significance in explaining variations in correctional officers' attitudes. These variables were face/ethnicity, the size of the town in which the officer was living when the officer entered the academy, and age. The first two variables are of primary significance, because they support the position that movement away from the homogeneous white, rural-dominated correctional officer staff toward a more diverse staff has led to the recruitment of individuals with more positive attitudes toward treatment programs. However, contrary to expectations, the attitudes of male and female correctional officers did not differ significantly. Tables, case citation, and 15 references (Author abstract modified)