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The use of incentives to promote offender compliance is becoming increasingly common in community supervision. Although evidence suggests that incentives can improve offender outcomes, little is known about how they can best be implemented to achieve desired results. Research in other fields demonstrates that incentive quality plays an important role in promoting behavioral change. Unfortunately, little is known about the perceived value of incentives utilized in probation and parole settings. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the results of a survey administered to 200 adult probationers. Results indicated that earned compliance credits were rated most favorably, followed by a $50 fee waiver, reduced reporting requirements, and a $50 gift card. Recognition-based incentives received the weakest ratings. Multivariate analyses showed that individual level, as compared to offense- and supervision-level variables, had more consistent influences on perceptions of incen...

While organizational citizenship behaviors (i.e., employee’s choosing to perform above and beyond work expectations) are beneficial for the success of any organization, there has been little research on this form of prosocial behavior in private correctional agencies. This study is the first to examine the relationship between two forms of organizational commitment (affective and continuance) and organizational citizenship behaviors for 160 correctional staff at a maximum security private US prison. Results of the Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis supported the predictions that affective commitment would have a positive association with organizational citizenship behaviors and continuance commitment would have a negative association. Possible interventions that private correctional organizations can undertake to encourage affective organizational commitment from their staff are discussed.

Transitional housing facilities for released prison inmates have existed in the United States since the early 1800s and are a promising strategy to aid offender reintegration. One recurring obstacle to the successful implementation and sustainability of these facilities is public resistance. Unfortunately, very little is known regarding what influences public support or opposition specifically for offender-based transitional housing. The current study examines how support for transitional housing centers may vary among residents of a Midwestern state based on the proximity of the facility and the types of offenders living there. The study also examines a range of possible influences on support, including community factors, family-related considerations, correctional and political views, and demographic variables. The most consistent influence on acceptance of transitional housing centers was general support for helping offenders during reentry. Other variables with more limited effects were an emphasis on services and programming over monitoring and surveillance during reentry, having a close family member imprisoned, age, and education level. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Sexual victimization is a growing concern on college campuses. Although academic literature has examined the extent and perceived risk and fear of sexual assault at universities, studies focusing on college student attitudes about appropriate sex crime–related policies are severely limited. The Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act of 2000 requires post-secondary institutions to provide a statement giving the campus community guidance on how to access information about registered sex offenders. Colleges and universities are afforded wide discretion regarding whether to use more direct and involved methods for notifying faculty, staff, and students. The current study examines how college students attending a Midwestern university feel about various approaches to notification about sex offenders on campus. Results indicate that impressions of vulnerability are driving some of student opinion about notification, but that other considerations, such as character assessment, privacy concerns, and feelings of uneasiness, are possibly having an impact as well. The findings also strongly support that female student input should be factored heavily into campus sex offender notification strategies.

The sustainability of the modern prisoner reentry movement may rest heavily upon public support. Although little is known about how public opinion toward reentry is shaped, religion is potentially a key contributor. Several studies indicate that religious perspectives affect public attitudes toward punishment and rehabilitation. The current study aims to determine whether religious beliefs contribute to support for or opposition against three distinct approaches to prisoner reentry. Using survey data obtained from a randomly selected sample of a nationally representative Midwestern state, multivariate regression models were used to examine whether feelings of religious forgiveness and belief in a punitive God affected attitudes toward transitional programming, transitional housing, and assisting post-release offenders through housing agencies. Respondents who felt greater religious forgiveness and had less belief in a punitive God more strongly supported transitional programming and transitional housing and expressed greater opposition to denying housing assistance for recently released offenders. Both advocates and opponents of reentry initiatives should consider religious beliefs when attempting to gain support for their respective positions.

Purpose In response to escalating revocation rates in community supervision, many jurisdictions have adopted graduated sanction policies. Research on graduated sanctions has shown promising results. However, most studies focus exclusively on jail sanctions and have largely ignored the possibility that community-based graduated sanctions such as written assignments, increased treatment participation, or community service hours may be as effective, or more effective, than jail sanctions. Extending this research, the current study examines whether community-based sanctions are as effective in increasing offender compliance as spending time in jail. Methods Using data from over 800 violations committed by a random sample of probationers and parolees on intensive supervision probation, multilevel models are estimated that examine whether jail sanctions are more effective than community sanctions in 1) extending time to the offender’s next violation event, 2) reducing the number of future violations, and 3) successfully completing the probation program. Results Results consistently indicate that jail sanctions do not outperform community-based sanctions. Conclusion Due to the financial, social, and potentially criminogenic effects of jail, the lack of significant differences between jail sanctions and community-based sanctions calls into question the use of jail as a means of punishing persons on community supervision.

Finding strategies to prevent burnout is imperative for correctional administrators. Ordinary least squares regression analyses of survey results from 160 employees at a private prison for offenders aged 14 to 19 who were tried as adults were used to examine the effects of affective and continuance commitments on the three dimensions of staff burnout. The results indicate that affective commitment had a negative association with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of reduced accomplishment, while continuance commitment had a positive relationship with these dimensions of burnout. Of the control variables, tenure had a positive association with emotional exhaustion, age had a negative relationship with depersonalization, and average daily contact with inmates had a positive association with feelings of reduced accomplishment. One strategy that administrators could employ to reduce staff burnout is to strengthen staffs’ emotional ties and feelings of loyalty to the organization, while attempting to decrease perceptions that the employee is trapped in the job.

Life is filled with the demands of work and family. When conflict exists in one domain, research indicates it can spill over and affect the other. In corrections, many workplace factors have been shown to affect the organizational commitment of staff. As staff are the most valuable resource in this labor intensive field, this study focused on the effects of two types of organizational commitment (affective and continuance) on three work–family conflict variables (time based, strain based, and behavior based). Using ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey data from 160 correctional staff at a Midwest private prison, the results indicated that as affective commitment rises, all three work-on-family conflict variables decreased. Conversely, when continuance commitment rose, all three work-on-family conflict variables increased as well. Surprisingly, both forms of commitment had nonsignificant associations with family-on-work conflict. The only significant control variable was age, which revealed that older staff had less conflict between work and family.

Despite the recent burgeoning of the private prison industry, little research has focused on private prison personnel. This study attempts to help fill this research gap by examining the relationship between two distinct forms of organizational commitment, continuance and affective, and the withdrawal outcomes of absenteeism and turnover intent for personnel at a Midwestern U.S. private prison. Results of an ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression analysis supported our prediction of an inverse relationship between affective organizational commitment and the withdrawal outcomes of absenteeism and turnover intent; however, contrary to our hypotheses, the analysis indicated no statistically significant relationship between continuance organizational commitment and these withdrawal outcomes, after controlling for custody position, gender, age, tenure, education, race, and supervisory status. Our results suggest that enhancing employees’ affective organizational bonds should be a priority for pri...

Role stress is an important aspect of the prison workplace that impairs organizational functioning and can have negative effects for correctional staff. While the effects of role stress on correctional workers are largely known, few studies have examined the causes of role stress. The current study explores potential antecedents of role stress among 160 correctional staff at a private Midwestern prison. Multivariate OLS (ordinary least squares) regression analysis identified five statistically significant predictors of role stress: instrumental communication, supervisory support, formalization, job autonomy, and race. The results suggest that correctional managers and supervisors can reduce role stress substantially by clarifying the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of employees, creating a supportive atmosphere for workers, and identifying areas where staff can have greater control over their jobs.

Prison educators and vocational trainers are instrumental in prisons given their roles in teaching and preparing prisoners for a successful reintegration into the community. Although prior research has explored the impact of vocational and educational programs on offender recidivism, scant attention has been paid to the work experiences of prison educators and instructors. The current study thus examines perceptions of supervision and organizational operations among a sample of 263 educational and vocational staff employed in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A key contribution of this study is the inclusion of new organizational-level variables (e.g., a prison’s average institutional tenure and average institutional commitment) as predictors of perceptions of the prison work environment. Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) identified that efficacy with inmates was the strongest predictor of perceptions of both supervision and organizational operations. Age, supervisory status, Hispanic ethnicity, and the average institutional tenure were also significant predictors of both outcome measures. Security level, inmate gender composition, average institutional commitment, the amount of contact with inmates, and race had different effects on the dependent variables. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

PurposeExpanding on earlier research, this paper aims to develop a more complete understanding of military experience as it relates to stress and burnout in law enforcement. The current study examines whether influences on stress and burnout vary between officers with military experience and officers without a military background.Design/methodology/approachData for this study were obtained from earlier research on police staff at a Northeastern metropolitan city. A combination of analytic methods, including t‐tests and multivariate regression analysis, were used to explore the effects of variables on stress and burnout among military and non‐military officers.FindingsThe results indicate that negative exposures to demanding events influenced burnout for all officers. In contrast, negative exposures affected stress levels for those officers with no military experience. Coping techniques were important predictors of stress and burnout for both groups; however, contrary to expectations, police experience in years was not significant in any model. Demographic controls had no influence on stress and burnout for either group, with the exception of gender, which was a significant predictor of stress only for the non‐military group.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has implications for police departments interested in developing group‐based strategies for reducing stress and burnout among officers. The findings are limited in their capacity for wide geographical generalization, however, because this study represents the views of only one department.Originality/valueIn contrast with previous empirical work, the findings here demonstrate that military experience can have a favorable influence on the work outcomes of police officers. This study suggests that officers with military backgrounds are less stressed when faced with demanding situations and that military experience provides female officers with an edge in handling work‐related stressors.

Health care staff are instrumental in prisons given their roles in aiding security and the growing demand for medical services among prisoners. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to this prison staff subpopulation. This study examined perceptions of supervision among 424 prison health care staff in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Participants felt that prison supervisors were most effective in clarifying expectations and least effective in giving feedback for performance, involving staff in planning, and extending job autonomy. Using hierarchical linear models (HLM), some unique findings emerged. Efficacy in dealing with inmates was the strongest predictor variable: health care staff who felt more positive and effective with inmates had more favorable feelings toward supervision. Staff working in high- and medium-security prisons had more positive feelings toward supervision than those in minimum security, and younger staff had more favorable attitudes toward supervisors than older staff. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.