Professional Deformation Features of the Federal Penitentiary Service’ Employees

Abstract

The specifics of the activities of employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service leave a significant imprint on the professionally important qualities of employees, because activities are accompanied by increased extremeness, responsibility, unpredictability, and danger. A great influence on them is exerted by interaction with offenders, performance of official duties along with excessive mental and physical stress. Therefore, every year the topic of professional deformations is becoming increasingly relevant. The article describes the features of the severity of types of professional deformation of employees of the federal penitentiary service in comparison with employees of police officers and bailiffs. The study used the following classification of types of professional personality deformation: authoritarianism, professional aggression, over-control, behavioral transfer (manifestation of role transfer syndrome), irresponsibility or learned helplessness, conservatism and anxiety. The study involved 25 employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, 48 employees investigating and solving crimes of the internal affairs bodies, and 40 employees of the Federal Bailiff Service. The study used methods such as questionnaires and psychological testing, as well as statistical methods: descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and multivariate analysis of variance. To identify types of professional personality deformation, the author’s questionnaire was used. As a result of the study, it was found that for the employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service the most characteristic are over-control and conservatism as types of professional deformations. Authoritarianism, over-control, conservatism are common professional deformations among law enforcement officials.