Correctional Orientation Research Articles

Deputy Sheriffs as Jail Guards

This article explores the correctional policy orientations and role stress experiences of deputy sheriffs during their career as jail guards. The findings suggest that deputies bring to their jail assignment a variety of correctional policy orientations that vary across career phases. The proportion of deputies committed to a restraint orientation is greater during the later career phases, while the proportion of deputies committed to a rehabilitation orientation is greater during the earlier career phases. For reform and reintegrative orientations, the proportion of deputies is relatively uniform across the career phases. The data also indicate that the degree of role stress is a function of the interaction between career phase and correctional policy orientation. For restraint- and reform-oriented officers a curvilinear pattern of role stress emerges, with higher levels of stress evidenced during the middle phase. In contrast, rehabilitative- and reintegrative-oriented officers exhibit increased role stress across the career phases, with higher levels of stress demonstrated during the late phase.

Correctional Officer Professional Orientation

In light of the increasing interest in research on correctional officers, data are presented concerning the validity, reliability, and factor structure of the Klofas-Toch professional orientation inventory of correctional officer attitudes toward inmates. This 17-item instrument was administered to a heterogeneous sample of southern correctional officers and to a heterogeneous sample of probation/parole officers. The same four factor structure emerged in the correctional officer data as has been reported by Klofas and Toch (1982); however, separate analyses showed differential factor ordering and loading for black and white officers. The factor structure that emerged in the probation officer data differed from the structure found in the correctional officer data. Finally, the professional orientation inventory, while found to be a valid and reliable measure, did not explain much of the variance in correctional officer job burnout.