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Belief in a Personal Just World, Justice Judgement, and Their Functions for Prisoners

NCJ Number
220969
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior: An International Journal Volume: 34 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2007 Pages: 1516-1527
Author(s)
Claudia Dalbert; Eva Filke
Date Published
November 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study focused on the relationship between the experience of justice, belief in a just world (BJW), and the feelings of adult male prisoners.
Abstract
The pattern of results is in line with the notion that belief in a just world (BJW) is a personal resource that helps adult prisoners to reduce anger arousal and anger expression in the form of outburst behavior and that strengthens feelings of social inclusion. The stronger the adult prisoner’s BJW, the more they evaluated the legal proceedings leading to their conviction, their corrections officers’ behavior towards them, and decisions on prison affairs to be just. BJW seems to impact the evaluation of social experiences as just, and these justice judgments, especially interpersonal justice, are positively associated with mood state. The experience of being treated in a fair and respectful manner contributes to the sense of being a valued member of a group who deserves just treatment. The sense of belonging to a group has been found to reinforce the personal obligation to behave in accordance with the group’s rules. Being treated justly during imprisonment may signal belongingness to society and thereby, strengthen prisoners’ intrinsic motivation to obey the law in the future. This study examined prisoners’ justice judgments of their treatment during imprisonment, particularly of corrections officers’ behavior toward them and of decisions on prison affairs. The belief in a personal just world was expected to be an essential condition for positive justice judgments. The study sample consisted of 100 adult male prisoners from a German prison. Tables, figure, appendix and references