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Discretion as weakness: exploring the relationship between correctional officers’ attitudes toward discretion and attempted boundary violations

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dc.contributor.authorStevens, Leanne
dc.contributor.authorSchultz, William
dc.contributor.authorPatterson, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-28T16:13:35Z
dc.date.available2025-01-28T16:13:35Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractResearch paints discretion as a tool correctional officers (COs) use to navigate their work. Discretion helps COs gain compliance and resolve conflicts amicably, and officers sometimes use it to improve relationships with incarcerated people. However, research also suggest that COs’ reliance on discretionary power may produce harmful complications, undermining institutional regulations and creating conditions for serious rule violations. Little quantitative analysis exists on how CO discretion impacts prison operations, making the broader impact of discretion unclear. To address this gap, we use open-access data collected between 2017–2018 (Griffin & Hepburn, 2020). We then test whether a CO’s attitude toward discretion may correspond with attempts from incarcerated people to encourage boundary violations. Results show that COs with more liberal attitudes toward discretion correspond with higher odds of being approached by incarcerated people to violate boundaries. Black COs have lower odds of being approached for minor boundary violations, while women officers have higher odds of having incarcerated people try to initiate an inappropriate relationship. Findings show that liberal attitudes among COs toward discretion may encourage incarcerated people to violate the most consequential prison rules. We conclude by discussing the implications for future research.
dc.identifier.citationStevens, L., Schultz, W. J., & Patterson, A. C. (2024). Discretion as weakness: Exploring the relationship between correctional officers’ attitudes toward discretion and attempted boundary violations. Journal of Criminal Justice, 95, 102274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102274
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102274
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/3749
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
dc.subjectdiscretion
dc.subjectcorrectional officers
dc.subjectboundary violations
dc.titleDiscretion as weakness: exploring the relationship between correctional officers’ attitudes toward discretion and attempted boundary violationsen
dc.typeArticle Post-Print
local.embargo.enddateSeptember 7, 2026

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