Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe: Perspectives of Rural Safety, Security and Rural Criminology, Book of Abstracts

Abstract

Conference proceedings consist of abstracts of conference papers presented at the 13th international biennial conference on Criminal Justice and Security in Central and Eastern Europe organised by the Faculty of Criminal Justice ans Security of the University of Maribor, Slovenia. The conference was held online between 13 and 15 September 2021. A lead topic of the conference is rural criminology and perspectives such as deviance, crime and social control activities, and provision of safety ans security. At the conference, 68 papers were presented by 116 authors from 22 countries. A celebration of the 25th anniversary of the international biennial conference took place. The conference proves an active and fruitfull international research activities of the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security of the University of Maribor.

Drivers for enhancing job performance of prison officers in Slovenia: effects of job attitudes, organizational, and work-related factors

“…Therefore, it is not an indicator of any decrease in prison officers' job attitudes but in fact, contributes to greater job satisfaction and involvement. A possible reason for this could be the fact that the desired characteristics of prison officers include high physical fitness and other skills required to deal with dangerous situations (Meško et al, 2004), which is why these dangers do not decrease their well-being at work, but allow them to apply the skills they have. However, this finding disagrees with the results of previous research, for which there may be various reasons.…”

“…Another important feature of working in a prison environment, which can affect employees and thus must be taken into account when studying their job performance, is the fact that the employees carry out dangerous work and are often exposed to stressful situations (Meško et al, 2004;Reisig and Mesko, 2009). This can lead to various psychological states and consequently affect the prison officers' quality of work, work engagement, and job involvement.…”

“…In addition, research on the (perceived and self-perceived) legitimacy of prison officers and other staff at Slovenian prisons has also become well established (e.g., Reisig and Mesko, 2009;Meško et al, 2016;Meško and Hacin, 2019). In relation to the topic addressed in this article, a study of the importance of prison officers' professional skills in performing their work (Meško et al, 2004) provided some interesting insights. This study showed that, according to the prison officers themselves, at least one year of work experience is required for them to be able to perform their job with competence.…”

Self-Legitimacy of Prison Workers and Treatment of Correctional Clients: A Study in Slovenian Prisons

“…The questionnaire used in this study comprises questions on previously mentioned fields and also questions on prison workers' feelings of obligation toward correctional clients (professional and supporting treatment), cooperation between different prison services, organizational commitment, support for different approaches to prison work, and competencies of prison workers. All parts of the questionnaire were pretested in different studies on self-legitimacy (e.g., and competencies of prison workers (e.g., Meško et al, 2004;Prevolšek et al, 2018). Before surveying, consent from the Slovenian Prison Administration was obtained.…”

“…Social groups with strong bonds influence the individual's sense of belonging to the group, which leads to the development of specific attitudes, emotions, and behaviors. Meško et al (2004) described prison workers (prison officers) as a homogeneous group of conservative individuals with a cynical outlook on life. As a specific closed social group, prison workers seek support and understanding from their colleagues (Stern, 1993).…”