Legitimate Custodial Authority: Preliminary Findings from The Texas Jail Study

• In Event: Relationships Matter: Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, and the Working Alliance in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

Research examining legitimacy seeks to understand individual perceptions regarding the criminal justice system and how those perceptions influence behavior. More specifically, research seeks to understand factors that influence cooperation and obedience with authority figures within the criminal justice system. The majority of work testing legitimacy theory relies on citizen-police officer interactions, yet we know comparatively little about the views of correctional populations. Unlike police-citizen interactions, inmate-staff interactions are frequent, on-going, and often long-term. Relying on legitimacy theory, the current study aimed to understand the extent to which jail inmates’ attitudes towards authority figures (correctional staff) developed and changed over the course of their adjustment to jail. Newly incarcerated jail inmates enrolled at two different county jails participated in structured interviews once a week over the first six weeks of incarceration (six interviews). Multi-level modeling is used to explore the relations between perceived legitimacy and the formation of attitudes towards authority. In particular, how jail inmates’ perceptions of legitimacy as it relates to the criminal justice system influenced growth patterns in attitudes toward custodial authority. Findings will have important implications for understanding the jail environment and factors that can improve the jail experience for both inmates and correctional staff.

Authors

• Robin Parker, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Jill Viglione, University of Texas at San Antonio

• Brandy L. Blasko, Sam Houston State University