Perceived legitimacy or dull compulsion? Assessing why incarcerated offenders comply with correctional rules

ABSTRACT Generally, research has shown that offenders’ compliance with correctional rules is motivated mainly by the belief that correction officers are legitimate and should be obeyed. There are also contentions that, in correctional settings with widespread violence and abuse, compliance may not necessarily be driven by the persuasion that correctional officers are legitimate but by feelings of endemic helplessness (a condition that is described as dull compulsion). We are uncertain whether such a claim holds true for the South African correctional setting. From a survey of participants from selected correctional centres in South Africa, this study has examined the factors that predict compliance behaviour among incarcerated offenders in South Africa. Findings indicate (among others) that perceived legitimacy, and not dull compulsion, is a predictor of compliance behaviour in the South African correctional setting. The implications of the findings are explicated.