NCJ Number
182512
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 44 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2000 Pages: 326-349
Date Published
June 2000
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Two hundred twenty-two correctional personnel at a medium-security prison in Idaho completed a new role instrument developed to measure to extent to which today’s correctional officers identify with the old concept of the hack or the newer concept of their work as human service.
Abstract
The authors developed the role instrument based on consultation with other corrections researchers and after a thorough literature review. The 34-item Likert-scale instrument focused on the two opposing approaches to correctional work identified by Johnson in 1996: the hack and human services approaches. The instrument asked participants to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with each item. The participants were staff at the Idaho State Correctional Institution; 75.1 percent of the participants were male. Their average age was 40.6 years; 90.5 percent were white. All had at least a high school diploma or GED; 59.1 percent had at least some college. A total of 49.5 percent had served in the military prior to working in corrections. A total of 27.2 percent had worked in corrections for less than 1 year, 27.2 percent for 1-5 years, 21.6 percent for 6-10 years, and 24 percent for more than 10 years. The instrument appears useful in measuring correctional role orientation. In addition, analysis of responses to individual items indicated that selected sociodemographic characteristics relate to perceptions of the correctional role. Findings conformed with stereotypes about women as nurturers and soldiers as tough guys in that female correctional officers favored the human service side of correctional work more than men; ex-military persons favored the hack side of correctional work more than those who had not served in the armed forces. Tables, appended instrument, notes, and 55 references (Author abstract modified)