The Use of Force by Detention Officers (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship) Review

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(More customer reviews)Marie Griffin's study of the correlates of "readiness to use force" by jail correctional officers is an important contribution to this understudied area of inquiry. Her role as an evaluator of an NIJ sponsored project to introduce non-lethal weapons in the Maricopa County (AZ) Jail system gave her the opportunity to collect great data for the analysis of what factors contribute to a correctional officer's readiness to use force on a prisoner. The audience for this book is, for the most part, scholars who are concerned with prison policy and organizational development/industrial psychology issues (workplace satisfaction, climate, etc.) The statistical techniques, appropriate to the academic setting, will not be readily appreciated by most practitioners (including me). However, the conclusions (climate is more important than individual attributes in determining readiness to use force) should be of interest to policy makers and reform activists. Dr. Griffin demonstrates an admirable knowledge of the research literature in this area and provides a very helpful bibliography. Her calls for more research on use of force seem quite sincere. Hopefully more scholars will take up the challenge.
I borrowed a library copy. It is hard to justify the price for a personal library, although I'm tempted...If you're concerned about the use of force in jails in prisons this is an important book to read. Buy it if you can't find a library copy. REA

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Griffin conducted a survey of all detention officers inMaricopa County, Arizona, a jail system known for punitive policiesand for a sheriff with a national reputation for severity. Griffin'sfindings indicate that attitudes toward the use force are influencedby authority, fear of victimization, quality of supervision,institutional operations, and role ambiguity. These findings suggestthat interactions between officers and supervisory personnel andinteractions directly with inmates have a more direct influence on theuse force than either perceptions of the larger organization or anofficer's individual characteristics.

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