Relations Between General Attitudes and Personality Traits of Prison Officers and Some Specific Attitudes Towards Prisoners (From Criminal Behavior and the Justice System: Psychological Perspectives, P 399-418, 1989, Hermann Wegener, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-116624)

• NCJ Number: 116647
• Author(s): W Seitz
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Springer-Verlag
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Data from 80 correctional officers working in 3 prisons in Hessen, Germany formed the basis of an analysis of the connections between personality traits, general attitudes, and special attitudes towards prisoners and suggested that prison guards take a fairly active part in the shaping of the institution's environment.

Abstract

The participants completed questionnaires containing 76 items on general social attitudes and personality traits and 21 items on attitudes toward prisoners and prison policies. Findings were consistent with Ziegert's report that contradictory attitudes exist in the staff in the same prison. In comparison with the officers in the other two prisons, the officers in the prison with the most relaxed regime had lower scores for repressiveness, higher scores for benevolence, the highest scores for intolerance towards personal needs of prisoners, and outmoded opinions about origins of criminality. Findings also indicated that attitudes toward prisoners are determined by general personality traits and showed that correctional staff actively form part of the therapeutic environment. In addition, the results confirm the value of efforts to develop programs for changing prison officers' basic personality traits and individual behavioral skills. Moreover, results point out conflicts involved in the expectations placed on officers that lead to lasting psychic stress in everyday life. Tables, diagrams, and 63 references.