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Prisons managing treatment programs for incarcerated offenders require correctional officers to share favorable dispositions toward prisoners and rehabilitation if they are to function effectively. How officers judge prisoners, rehabilitative practices, and the broader goals of corrections can influence treatment efficiency, as well as offender conduct. For these reasons, it becomes paramount to investigate the professional orientations of corrections officers and the factors related to them. Using the protection motivation theory as a guiding theoretical framework, the present study collected questionnaire data from South Carolina maximum security correctional officers (N = 649) to determine whether their risk perceptions of workplace harm shared statistically significant relationships with the counseling roles, concern for corruption of authority, social distance, and punitive orientations. Linear regression estimations found that heightened officer risk perceptions shared significant relationships with each orientation. Findings may be useful for global correctional administrators in need of officers supportive of rehabilitative practices.

Law enforcement agencies across the United States, partly in response to public outcries over fatalities associated with police use of lethal force, have adopted numerous less lethal technologies, including conducted energy devices (CEDs). Although the device was intended to reduce citizen deaths resulting from police use of force, various human rights groups have linked its usage to increased fatalities. The present study adds to the literature on CEDs by examining (a) the relationship between the restrictiveness of CED-related policies and CED deployments and (b) the relationship between these policies and fatal police shootings. Using data from a nationally representative sample of American law enforcement agencies, this study estimates a series of count regression models to examine the influence of departmental policies on CED usage and fatal shootings by police. Findings illustrate that less restrictive CED policies are associated with increased CED usage and fewer fatal shootings by police. Although design limitations preclude causal arguments, these results suggest that police departments should at least consider adopting more liberal policies regarding the application of this less lethal technology. Future studies on this issue using more rigorous designs are warranted.

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