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This study examined the influence of job demands (role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload and dangerousness) and job resources (job variety, supervisor structure and training views) on employee perceptions of procedural justice, general perceptions of distributive justice, and specific perceptions of distributive justice. Using a sample of 160 employees at a high‐security prison, the regression analyses found that only demands of role conflict was inversely correlated with procedural justice and both distributive justice measures. Role ambiguity was inversely related to procedural but was not related to either dimension of distributive justice. Furthermore, dangerousness was inversely associated with distributive justice (both general and specific), but it was not correlated with procedural justice. Among the job resources, job variety was positively associated with procedural and both distributive justice measures. Supervisor structure was predictive of procedural but not distributive justice. Role overload, and training views had non‐significant relationships with all the justice measures.

Most employees, including prison employees, want their employers to treat them fairly. Distributive justice (perceived fairness of outcomes) and procedural justice (perceived fairness of processes and procedures) are important dimensions of organisational justice. Limited research among correctional staff in the US suggests that views of distributive and procedural justice spill over and result in a strain‐based form of work‐family conflict. Strain‐based conflict occurs when work problems follow a person home and create conflict at home. Based on multivariate regression analysis of survey data from 120 Nigerian prison staff, distributive justice had significant negative effects on the strain‐based form of work‐family conflict. Contrary to findings among US staff, procedural justice did not have a similar significant association. The connection between views of organisational justice and strain‐based work‐family conflict appears to vary by nation.

ABSTRACTThe current study explored how three key work environment variables – input into decision-making, instrumental communication, and perceived quality of supervision – affected views of distributive and procedural justice among correctional staff (n= 322) at an unusual Southern prison. Results supported the premise that work environment variables influence the organizational justice perceptions of correctional staff; however, the effects of work environment on organizational justice perceptions differed, as only four of the six hypotheses were supported by the multivariate regression results. Specifically, input into decision-making and quality of supervision had positive effects on both distributive and procedural justice, while instrumental communication did not have a statistically significant relationship with either. The findings indicate that correctional administrators should focus on input into decision-making and quality of supervision in order to increase staff perceptions of organizational justice.

Prison officers not only affect prison operations, but correctional workplace variables also have effects on officers. Most of the past empirical research on this topic has focused on officers working in Western prisons. This study used the job demands–resources model to examine the effects of workplace variables in terms of job demands (e.g., perceived dangerousness of the job and role overload) and job resources (e.g., job autonomy, job variety, instrumental communication, and quality supervision) on job involvement among Indian prison officers using a sample of 163 prison officers from a prison in the state of Haryana in India. OLS regression indicated role overload, job autonomy, and instrumental communication all had nonsignificant effects, while job variety and quality supervision had positive effects on job involvement, as did the job demand of perceived dangerousness of the job. Similar to past research, the positive effects of job variety and quality supervision appear to be universal across prisons, as are the lack of direct effects for role overload and instrumental communication. Conversely, the effects of perceived dangerousness of the job and job autonomy appear to be contextual, varying across prisons in different nations.

ABSTRACTThe current study sets out to examine the effects of job demands and job resources on the job involvement of Nigerian correctional services staff. Job demands make the job more difficult and reduce positive work outcomes such as job involvement. Job resources make the job more pleasant and aid employees in doing their work, leading to increases in positive work outcomes, such as job involvement. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of survey data from 120 correctional staff in a medium-security correctional center provides partial support for the job demands-resources model on job involvement for Nigerian correctional staff, with job resources showing greater effects than job demands in building job involvement. Specifically, the job demand variables were fear of victimization on the job and role overload, and the job resource variables were job variety, quality training, and job autonomy. Quality training and job autonomy had statistically significant effects on job involvement in a multivariate OLS regression analysis. Fear of victimization, role overload, and job variety had nonsignificant effects in the regression analysis.

The 21st century has been overwhelmed by pressure for alternative methods of responding to crime and punishment. Diminishing resources at all levels of government necessitate that criminal justice agencies examine [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.06.001 Byline: Shanhe Jiang (a), Eric G. Lambert (b), Jin Wang (c), Toyoji Saito (d), Rebecca Pilot (e) Abstract: Many nations impose the death penalty, yet most of the literature on capital punishment has focused on Western nations, particularly the U.S. China and Japan are two retentionist nations. Based on the data collected in 2005, this study examined the level of death penalty support and views on capital punishment among college students from China, Japan, and the U.S. It was found that Chinese respondents reported the highest level of death penalty support, followed by Japanese and U.S. students. Respondents from China and Japan were more likely to believe in the deterrence value of capital punishment than their U.S. counterparts. Views on retribution differed among the respondents. U.S. students were most likely to feel that innocent people are sentenced to death. In multivariate analyses, deterrence was the strongest correlate of death penalty views among Chinese and Japanese respondents, followed closely by retribution. For both Chinese and Japanese students, the barbarity of government taking the life of a person was the strongest predictor for opposing the death penalty. For U.S. respondents, retribution was the strongest reason for supporting capital punishment and the barbarity of executions was the strongest reason for opposing the death penalty. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Criminal Justice, University of Toledo, Mail Stop 119, Toledo, OH 43606, United States (b) Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, 3281 Faculty Administration Building, Detroit, MI 48202, United States (c) Department of Sociology, Sun-Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China (d) Department of Economics, Osaka University of Commerce, Higashi-Osaka, 577-8505, Japan (e) Ohio River Valley Juvenile Correctional Facility, Franklin Furnace, OH, United States Article Note: (footnote) [star] Note: Shanhe Jiang and Eric Lambert contributed to the article equally. The authors thank Janet Lambert for editing and proofreading the article. The authors also thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. These comments and suggestions improved the manuscript.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2311.2010.00606.x Byline: ERIC G. LAMBERT (1), NANCY L. HOGAN (2), SHANHE JIANG (3) Keywords: correctional staff; job burnout; instrumental communication; formalisation; input into decision making Abstract: Abstract: In any nation, correctional staff are the greatest asset of any correctional facility. In an era where rising costs, shrinking budgets, and personnel shortages are common, it is increasingly important to provide a positive work environment to ensure worker stability. The research indicates that job burnout is a negative response that is influenced by the work environment. This study examined the effects of organisational structure on emotional burnout among correctional staff at a state-run prison. Promotional opportunity, integration, formalisation, instrumental communication, and input into decision making are the major forms of organisational structure. In addition to the above forms of organisational structure, the amount of daily contact and the personal characteristics of tenure, position, educational level, race, age, gender, and supervisory status were included as independent variables. In a multivariate analysis, supervisory status, degree of inmate contact, promotional opportunity, formalisation, instrumental communication, and input into decision making all had statistically significant associations with emotional burnout. The results support the postulation that organisational structure influences the emotional burnout of correctional staff. Author Affiliation: (1)Professor of Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA (2)Professor of Criminal Justice and Graduate Co-ordinator, School of Criminal Justice, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, USA (3)Professor of Criminal Justice, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Toledo, Toledo, USA Article History: Date submitted: August 2009Date accepted: November 2009

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2009.04.002 Byline: Shanhe Jiang (a), Eric G. Lambert (b), Vincent M. Nathan (a) Abstract: There is strong support for the death penalty in China; the reasons behind the support, however, are unclear. Retribution and the instrumental perspectives are two major reasons for pro-death penalty attitudes in the United States. Two survey-based studies partially examined whether these two perspectives are also the reasons behind pro-death penalty attitudes in China. Those studies, however, were limited to college students. Using a survey data of 108 regular citizens from different areas and occupations, this study found that both instrumental and retributive perspectives are predictors of pro-death penalty attitudes, and that the former is stronger than the latter. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Criminal Justice, University of Toledo, Mail Stop 119, Toledo, OH 43606, United States (b) Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, 2307 Faculty Administration Building, Detroit, MI 48202, United States

Using the job demands–resources model, the association of job demands (dangerousness, role underload, role overload, role ambiguity, and role conflict) and job resources (instrumental communication, formalization, input into decision-making, views on training, and job autonomy) with the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced sense of accomplishment was studied among of 827 police officers in the State of Haryana in India. Multivariate regression indicated that dangerousness, underload, ambiguity, and conflict were associated with higher emotional exhaustion, while input, training, and job autonomy were negatively related. Underload, ambiguity, and conflict were related to higher depersonalization, while overload, instrumental communication, training, and autonomy were related to lower levels. Ambiguity was linked with a reduced sense of accomplishment, while dangerousness, instrumental communication, and training had negative associations. Overall, the results support the job demands–resources model; however, curiously, overload was linked to lower depersonalization and dangerousness was linked to an enhanced sense of accomplishment. The implications for Indian police administrators are lower the significant job demands and raise the significant job resources to reduce job burnout among officers. What is not clear is if the results of the current and past studies apply to officers across the world or vary by nation/culture. The implication for police scholars is the need to conduct research among officers in a wide array of nations to help answer the question of which job demands and resources are universal in their association with the burnout dimensions and which ones are contextual, varying across nations.

Correctional institutions rely on staff to accomplish a variety of tasks and objectives to ensure the safety and security of society. A significant body of research has focused on characteristics and attitudes of correctional staff to uncover positive work outcomes. One area that rarely appears in the correctional literature is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which refers to those prosocial work behaviors in which employees engage that reflect extra effort and benefit the organization. This study examined the influence of work environment variables (i.e., organizational commitment, job stress, and job involvement) and individual-level characteristics on OCB. The results indicate that organizational citizenship behavior is affected by both organizational commitment and job stress. Findings are discussed in terms of possible policy implications for correctional organizations as well as the need to examine further the reciprocal nature of the employee/employer relationship. Keywords: correctional officers; job stress; organizational commitment; prison environments

Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional facility. While there was a significant body of research on the impact of the work environment on correctional staff, this study sought to expand that knowledge by examining the effects of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Multivariate models were estimated. Both forms of organizational justice had negative effects on job stress and organizational commitment; however, only procedural justice, but not distributive justice, had a significant impact on job satisfaction.

The differences and similarities in attitudes of the college students from China and U.S. towards the death penalty and the reasons for the attitudes at the conceptual and empirical levels are examined. The analysis has revealed that the respondents' perspectives of deterrence, rehabilitation, retribution and incapacitation affect their attitudes toward the capital punishment in the U.S.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2004.12.008 Byline: Eric G. Lambert (a), Calvin Edwards (b), Scott D. Camp (c), William G. Saylor (d) Abstract: Correctional agencies are labor intensive, and many of the posts in a prison cannot be vacated, often leading to mandatory overtime. Despite the high costs and inconvenience associated with absenteeism in prisons, little empirical work was conducted on the antecedents of sick leave use by correctional workers. From self-reported data of workers in federal prisons in 1994, the results of this study indicated that decisions to use sick leave were independent of the culture of the prisons, and that many of the variables found to be associated with sick leave use in other settings also applied to correctional settings. In particular, the authors found that job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, and personal characteristics were associated with the use of sick leave. Surprisingly, tobacco use was not. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Criminal Justice, HH 3221, Mail Stop #119, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, United States (b) School of Criminal Justice, 536 Bishop Hall, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI 49307, United States (c) Office of Research and Evaluation, 320 First Street NW, 400 Building, Room 3005, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, DC 20534, United States (d) Office of Research and Evaluation, 320 First Street NW, 400 Building, Room 3014, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Washington, DC 20534, United States

ABSTRACTStudies exploring how workplace factors contribute to job stress among police officers are not rare, but studies specifically examining how work–family conflict is associated with the job involvement and satisfaction of police officers are. In this study, data from 827 Indian police officers were used to examine the relationships of the four dimensions of work–family conflict (time-, strain-, behaviour-, and family-based) and other stressors (perceived dangerousness of the job, role conflict, role ambiguity, role underload, and role overload) with police officers’ job involvement and satisfaction. Time-based conflict was found to be associated with higher job involvement while family-based conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload were not. Perceived dangerousness of the job was found to be associated with higher job satisfaction while time – and strain-based conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload were not.

During the past decade, there has been increasing pressure on correctional agencies to attract and keep quality staff. Raising worker job satisfaction is seen as a fundamental way of decreasing turnover. There has been a considerable amount of research in the area of the possible causes of correctional staff job satisfaction and, to a lesser extent, the possible consequences of job satisfaction. However, due to the numerous studies, some with conflicting results, it is difficult to understand clearly the factors associated with job satisfaction. A review of the literature is presented to provide a better understanding of correctional staff job satisfaction. Based on this review, correctional administrators are urged to concentrate more on improving the work environment rather than focusing on correctional staff characteristics.

Life satisfaction is an important concept for both police and other law enforcement organizations. Past research on the spillover theory has found that higher life satisfaction results in better physical health, being more open-minded, improved effort, and longer life expectancy. The spillover theory holds what happens at work does not stay at work but spills over and affects a person’s overall life. Workplace variables, particularly job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment do not just affect people at work, but also affect people’s satisfaction with their overall lives. The current study examined how job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment were associated with life satisfaction among a sample of 827 police officers from the state of Haryana in India. In a multivariate ordinary least squares regression analysis, job stress had a significant negative effect on life satisfaction, whereas job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment had significant positive effects. The results suggest that police administrators should attempt to lower job stress and increase job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among officers to raise their life satisfaction, which, in turn, should benefit the individual officers, the police agency, and the community being served.

The article focuses on the public anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic illustrates the general concern about infectious diseases. It mentions that inmates, especially jail inmates, tend to have higher levels of health problems that require medical treatment compared to the general public. It also mentions that staff perceptions about disease and medical issues within the jail can affect their performance.

ABSTRACTThe job characteristics model was used to explain job satisfaction at a large southern prison. The effects of job variety, role clarity, views of supervision, views of training, perceived dangerousness of the job, and job autonomy on job satisfaction were studied. Using data from 322 staff members, the study found positive job characteristics (i.e., job variety, supervision, training, and lower perceived dangerousness of job) were associated with greater job satisfaction. Job autonomy was non-significant. Job variety, quality of supervision, and training views were positively associated with job satisfaction for all staff and security officers, whereas dangerousness of job was negatively associated. Role clarity mattered for all staff, but not security officers. Reasons for both significant and non-significant relationships were discussed.

This study examined the relationship between social support and burnout among correctional staff at a private midwestern correctional facility for juveniles tried as adults. Research on correctional staff burnout often calls for social support to help combat the problem; however, there has been no published research on whether different types of social support influence the different dimensions of job burnout. As such, the analyses examined the effects of family-and-friends support, coworker support, management support, and supervisor support on emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and ineffectiveness. The results revealed that different types of social support influenced different dimensions of burnout. Each dimension of job burnout was influenced by at least one type of social support. Furthermore, the effects of some types of social support were unique to specific dimensions of job burnout, and none of the types combined to influence any dimension of job burnout in a uniform manner. The results point to the need to develop different forms of social support to deal with the different dimensions of burnout.

In an era in which rising costs, shrinking budgets, and personnel shortages are common, it is increasingly important to provide a positive work situation to ensure worker stability. Research indicates that job burnout is a negative response that is harmful to the employee and to the organization. Depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and feeling a lack of accomplishment at work are all dimensions of job burnout. This study examined the association of job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment with burnout among correctional staff. The findings highlight the significance of these variables in relation to burnout. Specifically, job satisfaction had an inverse relationship with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a sense of reduced accomplishment at work, whereas job stress had a significant positive relationship with depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. Job involvement also had a positive association with emotional exhaustion, whereas commitment to the organization had no relationship with any of the three dimensions of burnout.

A study examining the effects of job characteristics on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of correctional staff members is presented. It is found that the effects of the job characteristics differed among various groups of correctional staff members.

Police organizations are tasked with a wide variety of duties, and officers often encounter stressful situations. Past studies have indicated that job stressors are negatively related to job involvement, which, in turn, is positively related to several beneficial outcomes. The present study empirically tested the job demands model with data obtained from a police agency in India. Survey data was collected from 827 police officers in the Indian state of Haryana. Analysis was carried out to determine the impact of job stressors (role overload, role underload, repetitiveness, role ambiguity, fear of victimization, and role conflict) on job involvement. Findings indicate that all stressors except fear of victimization had a negative effect on job involvement. The implications of the findings, for organizations in general and the police in particular, include the need to reduce workplace stressors and improve the work environment.

ABSTRACTDrawing from person–environment fit theory, the current study adds to recent empirical inquires that have considered how workplace factors affect jail staff. In doing so, the focus is on how perceptions of pay fairness effect the job stress, job involvement, and organizational commitment of jail personnel. Utilizing survey data from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the results of multivariate analyses reveal that staff that hold more favorable perceptions of pay fairness are more involved in their jobs and more committed to the overall organization. The implications of these findings for correctional research and practice are considered.

Job stress is the psychological tension, distress, and anxiety caused by stressors at work, and job stress is linked to numerous negative outcomes. While the nature of working with inmates can cause stress, work environment variables also contribute to the job stress of prison staff. The current study used the job demands‐resource model as a theoretical guide to explore the effects of job demand variables (that is, perceived dangerousness of the job, and role overload) and job resource variables (that is, supervision, job variety, instrumental communication, and job autonomy) on the job stress of staff at a medium‐security prison in Southeast Nigeria. Perceived dangerousness of the job and role overload increased stress from the job while supervision reduced job stress. Job variety, instrumental communication, and job autonomy did not have significant positive effects on job stress. The results partially supported the job demands‐resources model; however, specific work environment variables varied in terms of their statistical significance. Prison administrators need to be aware of the contribution that work environment variables have on job stress and need to make changes to reduce job stress among prison staff.

The article offers the author's insights on the significance of treating people positively in a correctional institution, relating his experience of working as a correctional officer at a maximum security prison were he faced several attitudes of inmates.

Existing research has suggested that work–family conflict is associated with a host of negative consequences. One dimension of work–family conflict, known as strain-based conflict, occurs when workplace problems negatively impact the quality of home life. Unfortunately, there has been limited research on strain-based conflict among police officers, especially those in non-Western nations, and the existing research has failed to examine the relationships between a full range of relevant workplace characteristics and strain-based work–family conflict. Using survey data from Indian police officers, this study examined the association of time-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, role underload, perceived dangerousness of the job, supervision, views on training, job autonomy, and job variety with strain-based conflict. This study’s findings indicate that time-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, role conflict, and role overload were associated with higher levels of strain-based conflict in an ordinary least squares regression analysis. Job autonomy and views of training were associated with lower levels of strain-based conflict in a multivariate analysis. The findings also suggest a need to further study the impact of how work environment variables affect work–family conflict, particularly strain-based conflict, among police officers across a variety of nations.

ABSTRACTThe importation model holds that certain personal characteristics, such as race, may shape employees’ views and may also influence how workplace factors affect them. Most correctional staff job stress and job satisfaction studies treat race/ethnicity as a dichotomous variable (i.e., White/Non-White) to be controlled for in multivariate analysis but have not explored if the effects of variables differ by racial groups. Thus, the effects of workplace variables may differ between Black and White correctional staff. Using survey data from staff at a large southern jail system, this study examined how personal characteristics (i.e., age, gender, educational level, and position) and workplace factors (i.e., role strain, perceived dangerousness of the job, instrument communication, input into decision making, and administrative support) predicted job stress and job satisfaction between Black and White staff. Results indicate that there were no significant differences in the effects between the two groups for job stress. For job satisfaction, however, there was a difference, with gender, position, and perceived dangerousness of the job having larger effects on White staff, and role strain, input into decision making, and administrative support having larger effects on Black staff.

Officers are a valuable resource for prisons across the globe. Working in corrections is a demanding job with a higher-than-average risk of job burnout. Most prison burnout studies have focused on staff working in Western prisons, particularly those in the U.S. These studies have generally found an association between work attitudes and burnout among prison officers. However, a key question is whether the associations are universal or contextual, varying by nation.The current study examined the link between the major work attitudes of job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feeling ineffective at work among staff at two Chinese prisons. According to the results of ordinary least squares multivariate regression tests, job involvement, and job satisfaction had significant negative effects on emotional exhaustion, but commitment did not. Only job involvement had significant negative effects on depersonalization. Job involvement and organizational commitment had significant negative effects on feeling ineffective, while job satisfaction had nonsignificant effects. The results indicate that the major work attitudes are negatively linked to job burnout for the studied Chinese prison staff; efforts should be undertaken to build these work attitudes to reduce burnout since burnout is linked to negative consequences for officers, inmates, and the prison. Based on previous research and current findings, some of the effects of work attitudes appear to be universal, and others appear to be contextual.

Work–family conflict and job burnout are both issues for 272 correctional staff (response rate of 68%). The two major forms of work–family conflict are work-on-family conflict and family-on-work conflict. Multivariate analysis of survey data from 272 correctional staff at a state prison indicated work-on-family conflict had a significant positive relation with job burnout, while family-on-work conflict did not.

Work can be stressful. The most common work-related stressors are the role stressors, which include role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, and dangerousness. All have received attention in the correctional job stress literature. The vast majority of this research has examined the impact of these role stressors on job stress and job satisfaction. Little, if any, research has examined the impact of these stressors on correctional staffs' organizational commitment. Moreover, despite a growing body of literature, the influence of role stressors on private prison staff has rarely been examined. In filling this research void, the following study examines the impact of role stressors on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among staff at a Midwestern private prison. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models showed that all four role stressors had statistically significant effects on job stress. Role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload each had a significant impact on job satisfaction, while role conflict and role ambiguity had significant effects on the organizational commitment of private prison staff. This article concludes with the implications of these findings for correctional research and practice.