stressors in Criminal justice system
Introduction
There are numerous stressors in the prison staff’s work environment. They are guided by a code that requires them to be rational and be counted upon regardless of the circumstances surrounding their work environment. The expectation by the management is that they will perform their tasks independently and should only seek assistance in only very necessary circumstances for example rape, riot or escape (Price & Sokoioff, 2004). The unpredictability of working with inmates, ambiguity and demographic changes raises the levels of stress, strain and change of attitude.
The incident in question occurred Crowley County prison where twenty one female employees claim to have been sexually abused by male supervisors. The harassment ranged from sexually explicit comments to rape. One female officer complained about a male supervisor harassing her sexually but she was reassigned to a medium security location where she was raped. The women filed a suit where a settlement was reached but the defendants did not admit liability.
This issue at the Crowley county prison seems to be a personal issue where the women are harassed by their male counterparts and therefore efficiency of their job is compromised since they no longer trust them. It is also work related in the fact that complains are not handled effectively but reassignment to different locations to keep the victim silent. Gender differences seem to be at work in stress perception( Article on Sexual harassment, 2009).
The only solution that would have been able to minimize such cases is the abolishment of autocratic style of correctional management where the staff feels trapped in the job, with the absence of policies, procedures and rules that are standardized.
Stress in the criminal justice profession
Low salaries, sexual harassment in the line of duty, lack of concrete policies, procedures and rules, lack of communication between the staff and the management, gender differences and little participation in the decision making process are some of the stressors in the criminal justice system.
Politics also play a part in determining the type of decisions that are made especially in the court systems. Elected judges for example are notorious in imposing death penalty as opposed to their appointed counterparts. They fear attacks from political opponents and are to act on their wishes if they are to survive the next election (Walters & Caywood, 2002).
There are consequences associated with stress that affects attitude towards one profession. There are powerful feelings of alienation, powerlessness, estrangement, helplessness. Physical impact includes high blood pressure, alcoholism, high suicidal rates and heart attacks.
The professionals respond to this stress differently by engaging in corruption or even inmate brutality. Other organizational effects include, low job productivity, high rate of absenteeism and high health care costs.
The solution to handling occupational stressors and concerns in my view is the recruitment of psychological experts and retaining them in these correctional facilities. Topics to be handled should include interpersonal communication, prison subcultures, stress awareness and management. The management should also adopt a participatory management style which is keen on empowering the employee through participation in decision making, input solicitation and unit management.
References
Price, B.R., & Sokoioff, N.J (Eds.) (2004) The Criminal Justice System and Women: Offenders, Prisoners, Victims and Workers (3rd Ed). New York: McGraw Hill
Walters, S., & Caywood, T (2002) Correctional Officers in America: The Emergence of a New Profession New York: Edwin Mellen Press
The 270 View (October 14, 2009) CCA Settles Sexual Harassment and Correctional Officer raped by CCA Employee after she complained. Retrieved from http://the270view.blogspot.com/2009/10/cca-settles-sexual-harassment.html
