{"title":"The Continuum of Moral Harms: Correctional Officers’ Perspectives of Prison and the Influence on their Wellness","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s11896-024-09659-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>We apply the continuum of moral harms as described by Litz and King (J Trauma Stress 32:341–349, <span>2019</span>), ranging from moral distress to moral injury, to understand the impacts of correctional officer (CO) interpretations of prison, recognizing how experiencing prison work informs their personal views. In the current study, we analyze data from 93 COs with a maximum of 2 years of work experience, to understand how, reflecting on their occupational experience, they perceive the purpose of place of their work—the federal penitentiary. Findings reveal prison as a space that they believe should be rehabilitative but which is often adamantly perceived as not rehabilitative. Accordingly, these contradictory circumstances reveal most officers encounter workplace experiences that may be consistent with current conceptualizations of moral frustration, distress, or injury. Thus, we demonstrate how prison work can produce moral challenges for COs. We recommend further study into the conceptualizations of moral harm in prison work more broadly and how to inform proactive strategies to address sources of these deleterious experiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":46605,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-024-09659-w","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We apply the continuum of moral harms as described by Litz and King (J Trauma Stress 32:341–349, 2019), ranging from moral distress to moral injury, to understand the impacts of correctional officer (CO) interpretations of prison, recognizing how experiencing prison work informs their personal views. In the current study, we analyze data from 93 COs with a maximum of 2 years of work experience, to understand how, reflecting on their occupational experience, they perceive the purpose of place of their work—the federal penitentiary. Findings reveal prison as a space that they believe should be rehabilitative but which is often adamantly perceived as not rehabilitative. Accordingly, these contradictory circumstances reveal most officers encounter workplace experiences that may be consistent with current conceptualizations of moral frustration, distress, or injury. Thus, we demonstrate how prison work can produce moral challenges for COs. We recommend further study into the conceptualizations of moral harm in prison work more broadly and how to inform proactive strategies to address sources of these deleterious experiences.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology is a peer-reviewed journal that reports research findings regarding the theory, practice and application of psychological issues in the criminal justice context, namely law enforcement, courts, and corrections. The Journal encourages submissions focusing on Police Psychology including personnel assessment, therapeutic methods, training, ethics and effective organizational operation. The Journal also welcomes articles that focus on criminal behavior and the application of psychology to effective correctional practices and facilitating recovery among victims of crime. Consumers of and contributors to this body of research include psychologists, criminologists, sociologists, legal experts, social workers, and other professionals representing various facets of the criminal justice system, both domestic and international.