EXPLAINING DETENTION WORKER ORIENTATION - INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS, OCCUPATIONAL CONDITIONS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL ENVIRONMENT

In the past two decades, research on correctional officer attitudes has moved toward development of explanatory models of professional orientation, or attitudes toward immates and the correctional role. This article presents exploratory findings intended to describe the professional orientation of a group of correctional workers which has received little attention in the empirical literature, juvenile detention care workers (DCWs). Using survey data based on samples of workers in two detention facilities in a Southeastern state (N = 109), this study follows the recent concern in correctional officer research to account for the combined and relative effects of individual worker background, occupational conditions, and organizational environment on professional orientation. Descriptive findings indicate very strong support among DCWs for a treatment/services orientation, but at the same time they reveal strong support for a punishment/control emphasis. Explanatory findings suggest that distinct regression models are required to account for variation in the two orientations. Implications for juvenile justice policy as well as for future research on DCW professional orientation are discussed. © 1994.