Public Attitudes Toward Policies Intended to Curb Correctional Officer Misconduct: An Experiment

• In Event: Attitudes and State Custodial Systems

Abstract

Much of the media attention correctional officers receive is negative, highlighting stories of corruption and misconduct. Concurrently, a variety of policies intended to curb inappropriate behaviors committed by officers, such as equipping them with body worn cameras, have been proposed in recent years. Using national level survey data (N = 1,000), the current study used an information experiment whereby 500 respondents were randomly assigned to receive the text of a news story depicting incidents of misconduct among correctional officers prior to rating support for the policies. The results indicate that regardless of receiving the story, respondents are generally supportive of all the policies presented. Specifically, more than 6 in 10 respondents support creating a national registry of correctional officers who have engaged in misconduct, and over 7 in 10 support correctional officers to take more ethical training (e.g., on sexual harassment), among other polices. In summary, support increased 4.5% to 16.2% for the policies when the respondents read the news story. An OLS regression revealed receiving the news story was significantly associated with increased support for the policies. These results indicate the media portrayal of correctional officers might influence efforts to reform the occupation.

Authors

• Alexander L. Burton, University of Texas at Dallas

• Justin T. Pickett, University at Albany, SUNY

• Cheryl Lero Jonson, Xavier University

• Francis T. Cullen, University of Cincinnati

• Velmer S. Burton, Independent Scholar