The Prison Penalty: Carceral Employment’s Impact on Perceptions of Public Sector Workers

• In Event: The Nuances of Employment in the Public Sector

Abstract

While recent research on street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) has documented the importance of understanding variation in perceptions across SLBs, exploring heterogeneity across institutional contexts has not been robustly explored. This US-based survey experiment (n = 2,135) estimates the causal effect of two factors on perceptions of SLB: (a) being labeled as working in a prison and (b) a counter-stereotypical narrative about prison-based SLBs. Results show that the prison-employment label significantly lowered perceptions of SLBs' compassion, dedication, skill, and morality. Conversely, exposure to the counter-stereotypical narrative significantly improved perceptions of prison-based SLBs across each dimension (n = 1,262). These results underscore the importance of institutional context in shaping perceptions of SLBs. Considering increasing calls to reform public sector institutions to achieve more equitable outcomes, this study highlights the need to consider how varying perceptions of SLBs in different institutions may serve as critical barriers to public sector reforms.

Author

• Jessie Harney, Colorado State University
  Presenting Author