U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Further Inspection Into the Effects of Correctional Officers' Sex, Race, and Perceptions of Safety on Job-Related Attitudes

NCJ Number
250847
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 96 Issue: 4 Dated: September 2016 Pages: 576-599
Author(s)
J. Wooldredge; B. Steiner
Date Published
September 2016
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article examines more closely the empirical relationships between correctional officers' job attitudes and officer demographics and perceptions of safety.
Abstract

Bi-level analyses from 1,740 officers in 45 prisons revealed that officers' sex and race mattered for shaping an officer's pride with co-workers, consideration of transferring to another facility, and perceptions of co-workers' job satisfaction, but only as they were linked to perceptions of sexism and racism. Perceptions of safety also mattered. Yet, levels of inmate crime and victimization were irrelevant for shaping attitudes. Positive attitudes were also more common in facilities housing higher risk populations, and in facilities for men. 31 references (Publisher abstract modified)