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Due to their close proximity to those serving time, correctional officers may not only be agents of control but also agents of change. Although state departments of correction often target for recruitment those individuals who can fulfill the custodial role of the job, little attention is given to hiring a human service-oriented workforce. To fill that void, we surveyed 673 newly hired correctional officer trainees from three states to determine the extent and sources of their embracement of a rehabilitative orientation. Our findings provide insight for departments of correction concerning the potential facilitators and inhibitors of achieving their rehabilitative mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines factors that weigh on a victim advisor’s mental calculus when approving whether a victim report a crime to the police. A factorial design was embedded in a survey of college students (n = 1221) and vignettes randomized the relationships between the victim, advisor, and perpetrator and the age of the victim and perpetrator. Results indicate that relationships between parties significantly weigh on an advisors’ mental calculus of approving a crime be reported. Moreover, advisors disapprove reporting if the perpetrator is a juvenile and they approve reporting if the victim is a juvenile. Advisors’ personal biases also mattered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the longstanding issues within the correctional officer occupation (e.g., high turnover, absenteeism), decades of research have tended to focus solely on the negative consequences of correctional officer work, rather than on the unique personal characteristics of the officers themselves. This omission is surprising as it is highly probable that each person experiences correctional work differently, with variation potentially hinging on the unique views and characteristics individuals bring with them to the job. Just as the "importation model" of prison adaptation recognizes the importance of pre-prison characteristics in explaining offender behavior, we argue that the unique personal experiences and social histories correctional officers import with them might shape the way they react to prison work. Thus, by thematically, descriptively, and multivariately examining three theoretically germane pre-prison work characteristics of 673 pre-service correctional officers (career motivations, attitudes toward prisoners, occupational histories), this call for research aims to raise awareness of the less studied factors within the correctional officer literature. Understanding the backgrounds and attitudes of newly hired correctional officers may potentially assist in the recruitment and retainment of these crucial employees in the prison system both in the United States and abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year, thousands of prospective students are denied admission to universities because they possess a criminal record. Prior research finds that university officials and faculty are generally accepting of those with records attending universities. To date, few studies have examined the perspectives of college students on this matter. The current study adds to this literature by examining college students' (n = 846) attitudes toward denying individuals admission to universities based on possessing a criminal record. The results reveal general opposition toward denying prospective students solely on the basis of possessing a record. However, divisions exist among students and fall on factors related to criminal justice system contact and racial, punitive, and political viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the fear that individuals may experience when considering a career as a correctional officer. It acknowledges the influence of media portrayals of prisons as dangerous and violent, which can contribute to this fear. The article also explores how demographic factors, such as race and gender, can impact the levels of fear experienced by correctional officers. It suggests that training academies may have the potential to mitigate and lessen fear levels among newly hired officers. The study conducted in the article examines the baseline levels of fear among correctional officers before and after academy training, and it includes separate analyses for different demographic groups. The results show that while overall fear levels did not significantly decrease after training, there were differences in fear levels between male and female trainees, as well as between White and non-White trainees. Notably, White trainees experienced a significant reduction in fear after academy training. The article concludes with recommendations for correctional departments to address and reduce fear among newly hired officers, including dispelling misconceptions about prisons, evaluating fear levels throughout an officer's career, and promoting diversity in training staff. [Extracted from the article]

The gun ownership literature is vast, with dozens of studies seeking to explain who owns guns and why. We build on this literature in two key ways. First, we introduce a new variable into the fold: sensitivity to harm. We theorize that this concern actively inhibits gun ownership. Second, we direct theoretical and empirical attention to a predictor that has frequently been overlooked in the contemporary gun literature even though its timing makes it the proverbial confounder: childhood gun socialization. Using data from a national sample of 1,100 adults and controlling for other known predictors, we find that sensitivity to harm is negatively related to gun ownership, whereas childhood socialization is positively related to it. Furthermore, we find that childhood socialization is not only the strongest predictor of owning guns, but also confounds the relationship between racial resentment and gun ownership, and fully mediates the effect of gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a comprehensive assessment of what Millennials think about U.S. correctional policy. Using a 2017 national-level sample (N = 1,000), Millennials' correctional policy opinions across 13 outcomes are assessed and compared to the views of other generations. The main findings are twofold. First, Millennials are only modestly punitive but clearly supportive of progressive policies. Thus, Millennials favor a rehabilitative correctional orientation, believe in offender redeemability, and prefer policies to protect ex-felons' civil rights and to expunge criminal records for minor offenses. Second, generational differences in public support for correctional policies are mostly limited. Americans of all generations tend to endorse inclusionary policies—a finding indicating that the future of American corrections might see a lengthy era of progressive reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, Catholics make up more than 50 million members of the adult population, or about one in five Americans. It is unclear whether their religious affiliation shapes Catholics' views on public policy issues, ranging from the legality of abortion to criminal justice practices. Capital punishment is especially salient, given that Pope Francis announced in 2018—as official Catholic Church teaching—that the death penalty is "inadmissible" under all circumstances. Based on two national surveys, the current project explores Catholics' support for state executions before (2017) and after (2019) the Pope's momentous change in the church's Catechism. At present, little evidence exists that Pope Francis's doctrinal reform has impacted Catholics, a majority of whom—like Americans generally—continue to favor the death penalty for murderers. Data from our additional 2020 MTurk survey show that only 17.0% of Catholic respondents could correctly identify the Church's position on capital punishment. Despite these results, Pope Francis's teachings provide Catholic leaders and activists with a compelling rationale for opposing the death penalty and holding Catholic public officials accountable for espousing offenders' execution. Further, for the next generation of Catholics, instruction in the inadmissibility of capital punishment, as part of the Church's consistent ethic of life, will be integral to their religious training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beliefs about race, especially racial resentment, are key predictors of public support for capital punishment and punitiveness generally. Drawing on a conceptual innovation by political scientist Jennifer Chudy, we explore the utility of transferring into criminology her construct of racial sympathy – or Whites' concern about Blacks' suffering. First, across three data sets, we replicate Chudy's finding that racial sympathy and resentment are empirically distinct constructs. Second, based on a national-level 2019 YouGov survey (n = 760 White respondents) and consistent with Chudy's thesis, racial sympathy is then shown to be significantly related to the race-specific view that capital punishment is discriminatory but not support for the death penalty or harsher courts. Racial sympathy also is positively associated with advocacy of rehabilitation as the main goal of prison. Notably, in all models, racial resentment has robust effects, increasing punitive sentiments. Taken together, the results suggest that racial sympathy is a concept that can enrich criminologists' study of how racial beliefs shape crime policy preferences in the United States and beyond, especially those with disparate effects on Blacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the American public has repeatedly witnessed the carnage and tragic consequences of mass school shootings. Using a national survey of American adults (N = 1,100) conducted between May 30 and June 6, 2018 in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy, this project explores public opinion on why these events occur. Informed by sociological scholarship on social movements and framing, the analysis shows that the public endorses both gun and non-gun attributional frames for school shootings. What appears to most strongly influence the resonance of both types of attributional frames, by affecting their narrative fidelity, is racial resentment, seeing the world as dangerous, and ideological beliefs. The attributional frames that respondents endorse, in turn, serve as "anchors" for their social action beliefs—or vocabularies of motive—with gun attributions increasing both confidence in and support for the #NeverAgain movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School shootings are one of the most salient social problems in America. Most prior research in this area has focused on identifying their causes and evaluating preventive school safety measures. An overlooked issue involves what to do with individuals who plan, attempt, or commit school shootings. Using data from an experiment embedded in a national survey of American adults (N = 1100), this study seeks to answer that question. We examine the public's sentencing preferences and perceptions of rehabilitation potential for offenders who plan, attempt, and/or carry out a school shooting. We focus specifically on the effects of offense outcomes and of the shooter's age and mental health. We find that offense severity is the strongest predictor of both sentencing preferences and perceived rehabilitation potential. Offender age interacts with offense severity, such that sentencing preferences are harsher for adult than juvenile shooters, but only for mid- and high-severity offenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two principal movers of American politics appear increasingly to be connected: racism and guns. The racial content underlying gun rights rhetoric, however, is rarely made explicit during political campaigns. As such, it is possible that espousing pro‐gun messages may be an effective way to surreptitiously court prejudiced voters without transgressing popular egalitarian norms. In other words, gun rights rhetoric may function as a racial dog whistle. In the present study, we test this theory using data from a survey experiment conducted with a national sample of registered voters. The findings from our experiment show that election candidates' National Rifle Association (NRA)‐funding status and position on gun control impact voters' evaluations, and racial resentment moderates these effects. Racially resentful voters are more likely than low‐resentment voters to say they would vote for a candidate when the candidate is funded by the NRA and does not support gun control. This is true among voters who own guns and among those who do not, and it is true regardless of the candidate's political party. The findings also show that there is a backlash effect among low‐resentment voters—such individuals are aversive to NRA‐funded candidates but strongly supportive of pro‐gun control candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]