abstract: More than 450,000 people work in public and private correctional institutions in the United States, collectively supervising over 2.2 million jail and prison inmates. The nature of correctional officers' work exposes them to numerous stressors which can have harmful effects on their health and their job performance. Several studies have examined the significance of environmental factors on work outcomes among prison staff. Less attention has been paid to external stressors such as negative images of correctional officers held by the community and correctional officers' perception of their own occupational prestige. This is an important omission considering the negative stereotypes associated with correctional officers and the tendency for media and entertainment outlets to perpetuate these stereotypes. The aim of this dissertation is to examine how perceived occupational prestige among correctional officers influences job stress. Specifically, the perceived occupational prestige associated with family and friends, the general public, and the media are assessed. To do so, the study employs multivariate analyses of data from a survey of 641 correctional officers employed in one Western prison system to examine the impact of perceived occupational prestige on an attitudinal and health measure of job stress. First, correctional officers believe that friends and family hold the most positive opinions about their profession, while the media has the most negative. Second, perceived occupational prestige among correctional officers does not appear to be a significant stressor, except for perceived occupational prestige associated with the media when predicting health job stress. Finally, when possible mediating variables are assessed for officers that had tenure longer than nine years perceived occupational prestige associated with the media has a significant effect on attitudinal and health job stress. In addition, for officers who identified themselves as non-White perceived occupational prestige associated with family and friends is a significant predictor of attitudinal job stress and perceived occupational prestige associated with the general public is a significant predictor of health job stress. This study concludes with a summary of these findings as well as its key limitations, and offers insight into potential policy implications and avenues of future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2015

abstract: Since the passing of anti-immigration laws, Latinos/as have become more vulnerable to racial profiling, thus increasing the chances of having negative interactions with police officers regardless of documentation status. Within criminology fields it has been reported that Latinos/as in general hold a higher fear towards the police when compared to Whites. However, there is has been limited research capturing perceptions of police officers using a quantitative approach. Method: 26 items were developed and was hypothesized to have 3 subscales: Fear of Police Officers, Anxiety of Interacting with Police Officers, and Self-Perceptions of How Police View Latinos/as. The final analytic sample included 288 self-identified as Latinos/as using an online survey. Most of the participants (92.7%) indicated being either U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Results: Results indicated that there were 3 latent factor structure of the POPS with Cronbach’s alpha’s above 0.9. Results from the Pearson bivariate analysis indicated that POPS sub-scale Anxiety of Interacting of police officers positively correlated with anxiety symptoms (r = .47, p < .01). In addition, POPS sub-scale Fear of Police Officers positively correlated with anxiety symptoms (r = .43, p < .01). POPS sub-scale Perceptions of Police Officers (r = .36, p < .01). Furthermore, direct negative past experiences with police officers had a moderation effect between the associations of self-perceptions of how police view Latinos/as and psychological distress by enhancing the relationship between those two variables (ΔR2= .25, F (2, 297) = 31.82, p < .05; (β = -.16, p > .05). Conclusion: This study contributes to our knowledge on self-perceptions of police among ethnic minorities and its association with mental health. These findings warrant attention for law enforcement and health service providers as it can help assist in understanding the mechanism involved in the development of Latino/a mental health disparities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2018

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Este estudo parte da perspectiva subjetiva de policiais militares no que se refere a sua atividade laboral. A pretensÃo à compreender como se estabelece a lÃgica explicativa sobre a atividade fim como parte do adoecimento do sujeito, sendo revelada por estes atores sociais, caracterizados pelos discursos de medicalizaÃÃo, como sujeitos em crise, âdiagnosticadosâ como portadores de doenÃas de cunho psicolÃgico. Para tanto, foi realizado trabalho de campo de sete meses intensivos em uma unidade de tratamento da prÃpria instituiÃÃo militar, o Centro Biopsicossocial da CorporaÃÃo. O acesso a estes sujeitos, bem como parte de seus tratamentos foi privilegiado, neste contexto interacional. Nas categorizaÃÃes simbÃlicas destes sujeitos, parte de seu adoecimento se deve a dois tipos de problemas detectados como constituintes de sua rotina de trabalho, primeiro como problemas que afetam diretamente o corpo do indivÃduo como, em alguns casos, as condiÃÃes de trabalho insalubres, falta de equipamentos de seguranÃa deixando o sujeito exposto ao imprevisÃvel, Ãs escalas de trabalho exaustivas, com horas consecutivas em pÃ, em pelo sol, entre outros. O segundo problema està baseado em violÃncias simbÃlicas que incidem diretamente na mente do indivÃduo, provocando uma dor invisÃvel capaz de gerar sofrimentos, como o assÃdio moral, humilhaÃÃo, abuso de autoridade e as puniÃÃes veladas, este segundo problema à o mais recorrente nas narrativas destes sujeitos. Para estes agentes sociais tais problemas incidem em seus corpos em forma de doenÃas, sendo reverberadas em pressÃo profissional agindo diretamente nos modos de ser e de estar em sociedade. Para alguns, sÃo usadas tambÃm como justificativa para aÃÃes de violÃncia. Como aporte metodolÃgico, parte-se da experiÃncia etnogrÃfica nesse Centro de tratamento sobre a qual foram selecionadas as trajetÃrias de vida de trÃs militares e fragmentos de histÃrias de vida como fontes explicativas dessa problemÃtica. As justificaÃÃes se iniciam pelas condiÃÃes elencadas como propiciadoras de adoecimentos, passando pelo processo de acompanhamento terapÃutico e a adesÃo a grupos religiosos como possibilidade de cura. Em Ãltimo caso destaca-se um dos casos cujo fim trÃgico se configura como suicÃdio. Nesta perspectiva, categorias como humilhaÃÃo, sofrimento e medo sÃo usadas pelo prÃprio indivÃduo e pelos colegas de farda para explicar os seus dramas. Por fim pretende-se compreender como estes sujeitos entendem seu trabalho a partir desta condiÃÃo. / This research builds up from the subjective perspective of Military Police Officers in regards to their working activity. The intention is to understand how to establish an explanatory logic featuring work as a part of the subjectâs illness â as it is revealed by these social actors, characterized by the discourse of medicalization as âsubjects in crisisâ and âdiagnosedâ as carriers of psychological diseases. For such an enterprise, an intensive fieldwork research of seven months was conducted inside one of the military institutionâs treatment unit in Fortaleza, Brazil: the Corporationâs Biopsychosocial Center. Within this interactional context, the access to these subjects and a part of their treatments were selected as the focus. Following these subjectsâ symbolic categories, they attribute a share of their illness to two kinds of problems perceived as constituents of their work routine. First, as problems directly affecting the individualâs body, such as unhealthy working conditions, lack of security equipment leaving the subject vulnerable to the unpredictable, and the exhausting work schedules, with long hours standing on foot under the sun, among others. The second problem is based on the symbolic violence that directly affects an individualâs mind, inflicting an invisible pain capable of generating suffering, such as moral harassment, humiliation, abuse of authority and covert punishment. The second problem is the most recurring in these subjectsâ narratives. For these social agents, such problems affect their bodies in the form of illnesses, which reverberate as professional pressure directly influencing their ways of being in society. For some of them, these illnesses are also used for justifying acts of violence. An ethnographic experience was carried out as a methodological approach inside this treatment Center, from which the life trajectories of three military police officers and fragments of life stories were selected to feature as clarifying sources of this problem. The justifications are initiated by the aforementioned conditions conducive to illness, passing to therapeutic monitoring and concluded by adherence to religious groups as a possible path of cure. Another case to be highlighted is one of tragic outcome, which led to suicide. In this perspective, categories of humiliation, suffering and fear are mobilized by the individuals and their colleagues in uniform to explain their dramas. Ultimately, we aim to promote comprehension of how these subjects understand their work considering this condition.

Situado no contexto de incremento das políticas penitenciárias de interiorização de unidades prisionais por todo o estado de São Paulo, este trabalho tem a intenção de analisar o cotidiano e as práticas sociais e profissionais de agentes penitenciários do município de Itirapina, cidade localizada no interior paulista, onde se encontram instaladas duas penitenciárias. Análise parte da ótica de agentes, moradores, comerciantes e demais moradores,para resgatar o modo pelo qual tais políticas de interiorização dos presídios têm afetado a vida no município em questão. Assim como os detentos, os agentes penitenciários têm seu cotidiano ligado à rotina da prisão, criam seu vocabulário e seu modo de agir transitando entre o interior da cadeia e o convívio com demais pessoas na cidade. A dinâmica social recebe grande influência dos valores e das práticas oriundos das penitenciárias construídas na cidade. Portanto, dentro deste contexto, a construção de discursos e valores colocam a profissão de agente penitenciário numa posição de destaque, cercada de privilégios, relativizando o conceito de prestígio, mesmo estando diretamente relacionado com um universo tão estigmatizado como o prisional. Através da observação da rotina desses profissionais e demais pessoas que se relacionam entre si, na intenção de perceber a dinâmica social cotidiana dessas pessoas, este trabalho também realizou entrevistas com agentes, moradores e comerciantes, buscando perceber como o ambiente criado dentro dos limites da prisão ultrapassa suas muralhas até invadir e influenciar a rotina da grande maioria da população local.. Dessa maneira, destaca-se a relevância do agente penitenciário nos mais variados espaços de sociabilidade do município, fazendo deles agentes sociais referenciais no contexto urbano. Esta dissertação volta sua análise para as transformações e consequências engendradas durante esse processo, percebendo o trânsito de agentes penitenciários, sua comunicação do convívio intramuros com o extramuros, ao mesmo tempo em que ambos se coalescem em sua dinâmica social. Percebe-se, portanto, como a cidade e a prisão interligam-se uma à outra, envolvendo todas as pessoas pertencentes a esse contexto. / Situated in the context of increase policies internalization of prisons throughout the state of Sao Paulo, this paper aims to analyze the everyday practices of social and professional prison officers of Itirapina the municipality, a town in the interior, where are installed two prisons. Analysis through the views of agents, residents, merchants and other inhabitants of the city such as internalization of prison policies has affected the county in question. Like the inmates, prison officers have linked to their daily routine of prison, they create their vocabulary and their mode of action moving between the inside of jail and living with others in the city. The social dynamics developed in Itirapina receives great influence of the values and practices from the prisons built in the city. Therefore, within this context, the construction of discourses and values put the profession of the prison guard in Itirapina in a prominent position, surrounded by privileges, relativizing the concept of prestige, it is directly related to a universe so stigmatized prison. By observing the routine of these professionals and others who relate to each other, hoping to understand the social dynamics of these people daily, this study also conducted interviews with staff, residents and merchants, seeking to understand how the environment created within the confines of the prison beyond its walls to break the routine and influence of the great majority of the population of the city. Thus, we highlight the relevance of the prison guard in a variety of social spaces in the city, making them agents of social references in the urban context. This essay turns its analysis to the changes and consequences engendered during this process, realizing the transit of prison guards, their communication with the extramural with intramural living, while they both coalesce in its social dynamics. It is clear, therefore, how city and prison are interconnected to each other, involving all those present here.

Juvenile Offending is widely believed to be on the increase judging by the growing number of convictions of young offenders in Gauteng Province. Policy and legislation has been renewed to uphold the rights of the child and to provide more humane intervention plans for children in conflict with the law. Appropriate sentencing of young people in conflict with the law remains a significant challenge in the South African Criminal Justice System. The Probation Services Act (Act 116 of 1991) provides for the appointment of probation officers who are responsible for screening, assessing and referring persons awaiting trial. After young offenders are convicted of a crime, a probation officer is required to conduct a pre-sentence investigation and write a pre-sentence report to assist the Magistrates and Judges in making appropriate sentencing decisions. This study aims to assess the usefulness of probation officers / pre-sentence reports in sentencing decisions concerning young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. Probation services are overloaded and understaffed and many social workers have not had adequate training in working in this field. These factors may compromise the quality of the pre-sentence investigation and the consideration of sentencing options. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of probation officers’ reports in sentencing young offenders in the Criminal Justice System. A representative sample of fifteen magistrates from Johannesburg Courts and the surrounding areas including a judge from the High Court was used for this study. The findings indicated that all the respondents were involved and experienced in sentencing young offenders. ii From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that most of the respondents found the probation officer’s reports useful in terms of the purpose of the pre-sentence investigations, understanding the young offender in his / her family, community and socio-economic and cultural context; the criminal history and profile of the young offender; the probation officer’s evaluation and assessment; and the consideration of appropriate sentencing options. With regard to suggestions to improve the probation officers’ reports the following was suggested by some of the respondents: - - Reports should be compiled and presented to court in time. - A workshop involving probation officers, prosecutors, magistrates and other service providers for young offenders needs to be done. - Probation officers should communicate with the prosecutors so that they get knowledge of the court proceedings regarding the trial. - Probation officers should look at the docket that carries the information regarding the young offender. - If a young offender is detained in a detention centre, probation officers should visit them frequently in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs they are exposed to, for sentencing purposes. The research design was qualitative in nature and an interview schedule was completed for the purpose of data collection. iii The results of this study indicated that the probation officer’s report is useful. The majority of the respondents stated that the probation officer’s report met their expectations. However, not all of them had suggestions regarding guidelines to improve pre-sentence reports, as the existing one covers all the necessary aspects. / Prof. L. Patel

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The correctional facility, and in particular the job of the correctional officer, remain a unique field of study, as there has not been much research done on the population other than stress-related studies. Although the correctional environment is one of the most dangerous and volatile working environments, there is still a number of correctional officers who remain motivated in their role until the day they retire. Many studies conducted on correctional officers, focused on the negativity associated with the role, resulting in minimal positively focused research. With the recent development in the field of positive psychology and the dimensions of psychological capital it is believed that human resources and psychological strengths assist with improving an employee‟s performance. At present psychological capital is seen as an important concept in helping employees cope with their working environments, resulting in the success of the organisation. Research has also shown a link between an individual‟s psychological capital and their level of work engagement. Having correctional officers being positively engaged in their workplace, will firstly result in the successful operation of correctional facilities and secondly it will allow the department of correctional services to achieve their vision and mission in protecting society from harmful individuals and rehabilitating the inmates to successfully integrate into society again. Data for this present study was collected through a biographical questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) and the work and well-being questionnaire (UWES-17). A convenience sample was utilized, with 122 correctional officers completing the questionnaires. The data was then analyzed using a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS). This study found that psychological capital does influence work engagement amongst the sample of correctional officers, specifically the psychological capital dimension hope influencing the work engagement dimension vigour. Furthermore optimism explained the greatest proportion of the variance in work engagement. Recommendations for the organisation and future research were proposed.

Magister Legum - LLM

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The primary objective of the current study was to establish the impact that certain push factors (namely, job satisfaction and organizational commitment) have on the intent to quit amongst private security officers. Literature indicate that a strong negative relationship exist between both job satisfaction and organizational commitment and the employee's intent to quit his or her employing organization. Moreover, a number of studies indicate that push factors, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, are antecedents to turnover intentions and that both these variables are negatively related to intent to quit (Chen, 2006; Elangovan, 2001; Slattery & Selvarajan, 2005). "For too long, private security has been rated an inferior job" (Potgieter, Ras & Neser, 2008, p. 39). Berg (2007) proffers that government officials have frequently commented on the poor treatment of security officers in terms of the long hours, low pay and job instability. The current study investigates whether security officers are satisfied with their jobs, and if not, which facets of satisfaction they are least satisfied with. Furthermore, the current study attempted to establish which of the two variables (namely, job satisfaction and organizational commitment) predicts intent to quit better. The literature presents opposing views with regards to this; however, various researchers (Bateman & Strasser, 1984; Ben-Bakr, Al-Shammari, Jefri & Prasad, 1994; Slattery & Salvarajan, 2005; Elangovan, 2001) postulate that organizational commitment predicts intent to quit better than job satisfaction. Despite the differences in views in the literature, there is overwhelming evidence that both job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment are strong predictors of intent to quit (Chen, 2006; Firth, Mellor, Moore & Loquet, 2004; Igbaria & Greenhaus, 1992; Slattery & Selvarajan, 2005; Tumwesigye, 2010) and it is a topic worthwhile investigating, especially in a South African private security industry context. Purposeful sampling was used to select the sample for the current study. Security officers with a grade 10 qualification and higher were selected whilst those with qualifications lower than grade 10 were excluded from the selection process as the researcher felt that respondents may have found it difficult to interpret the questions as a result of their literacy level which, in turn, might have an impact on the results of the study. The sample of the current study consisted of (n=143) private security officers employed at a private security organization operating in the Northern suburbs of the broader Cape Town area. Three standardized questionnaires and a self-developed biographical questionnaire were used to collect the data for the current study. The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) which was developed by Spector in 1985 was used to assess an employee's attitude towards his/her job and which facet of his/her job he/she is satisfied or dissatisfied with. The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Porter and Smith in 1970 but further developed later by Mowday, Steers and Porter in 1979 was used to measures a respondent's commitment to his/her employing organization. Intent to quit was measured by making use of the Intent to Quit Questionnaire which was developed by Roodt (2004). All of the measuring instruments possess sound psychometric properties with respect to validity and reliability. The results of the study indicate that both job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment is negatively related to intent to quit. The results further indicate that private security officers are least satisfied with their pay followed by promotional opportunities and that they are most satisfied with coworkers followed by communication. With regard to the strength of the relationship between job satisfaction and intent to quit and the strength of the relationship between organizational commitment and intent to quit, the results of the current study indicate that organizational commitment is a stronger predictor of intent to quit which is in line with the results of previous studies.The current study has a number of limitations. These limitations as well as recommendations for future research and the organization are put forth.

The democratization of South Africa (SA) officially took shape in 1994. This was after the first democratic elections on 27 April 1994. The elections were preceded by the acceptance of the Interim Constitution (Act 200 of 1993). The new dispensation was characterized by the adoption of Constitutional principles as national values of democracy. As a result of the adoption of a constitutional dispensation (namely both the Interim Constitution (Act 200 of 1993) and the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) the Constitution became the supreme law of SA above all other laws that were in place. This era also enabled the elevation of the powers and status of the courts, and the system of checks and balances was enshrined. This research was initiated by a lack of a standardized formula for calling the police to account for their actions and decisions. The current study sought to explore whether there are any national, regional, and global standards for calling the police to account. Furthermore, it sought to establish if there are any comparative studies that sought to assess police accountability efficacy within regional and global perspectives. In order to make these determinations within a qualitative approach, the study sought to determine the practice and a culture of accountable policing within the Gauteng police practices. This determination was done by determining the perspectives of the operational police officers (crime prevention) who are rendering the first priority core business of the police in SA, namely the prevention of crime. To achieve this goal, two questions needed to be answered, namely: What is the police definition of policing accountability?; How can policing accountability be enhanced and promoted within the daily practices of crime prevention police officers? To have these questions answered, the following objectives were formulated for the study: - To explore and describe the perception of crime prevention police officers in Gauteng Province with regard to “policing accountability”. - To identify and describe guidelines to support these police officers to enhance and promote policing accountability in their day-to-day police practices in the Province. To achieve these objectives, a mixed research design, consisting of a qualitative-, explorative-, descriptive-, and contextual research design, was utilized. The target population consisted of all crime prevention police officers who were at that time attached to the seven policing areas/precincts of the Gauteng police service. Twenty eight- (28) focus group interviews were scheduled for the study throughout Gauteng Province. The sampling technique that was used in the study was the non-probability purposive sampling technique. The interviewing process was conducted until saturation was reached. To ensure validity and reliability of the results of this study, Guba’s model (in Lincoln& Guba, 1985:295-300) of ensuring trustworthiness, was applied. Data was collected by means of in-depth, semi-structured phenomenological focus group interviews, as well as supportive field information (in the form of field notes and observation). A tape-recorder was used to capture data, which was then transcribed “verbatim” to facilitate the process of data categorization. Data was analyzed according to the descriptive approach of Tesch (1990:142-145). This method helped the researcher to reduce the data into themes, sub-themes, categories, and sub-categories. The findings of this study were then controlled using available literature. From the analysis of the findings, six themes were identified as obstacles hindering the practice and a culture of policing accountability. In order to deal with the obstacles within the police practices, six strategies were developed to enhance and promote the practice and a culture of policing accountability within the Gauteng police practices. From the findings of the study and themes that developed therein, a six-tier framework/model was developed for the study. Recommendations that emanated from the study are presented in the last chapter. / Dissertation (MA (Social Work and Criminology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Social Work and Criminology / MA / unrestricted

Research relating to police stress has typically focused on officers working in urban areas, neglecting their rural counterparts. This is especially true of conservation officers, who are tasked with enforcing laws in state parks and other recreational areas. To date, only a handful of studies have sought to better understand their experiences and perceptions. The current study seeks to further our understanding of conservation officer stress in three unique ways: (1) via applying McCreary and Thompson’s (2006) operational police stress scale (PSQ-Op) to the population, (2) determining whether officer characteristics (e.g., age, education, length of service) affect perceived stress, and (3) exploring the influence of various job duties on these perceptions. Survey data are gathered from officers located in several states, with results serving to improve our understanding of conservation officer stress.