THE PROFESSIONAL IN CORRECTION: STATUS AND PROSPECTS.

PRISON administration; CRIMINAL behavior; PROFESSIONALISM; OCCUPATIONAL training; INSTITUTIONALIZED persons; ATTITUDES toward work

The intricacies of criminal etiology and prison management require the level of knowledge, skills, and ethics associated with professionalism as a sociological concept. The criteria of the professions are applied to the correctional service to demonstrate this. To assess the degree of professionalization found among adult prisons, the ratio of prisoners per staff member is employed for various types of staff for the major regions. Highly irregular patterns and a generally low level of professionalization are revealed. The major obstacles to further professionalization include the lack of psychological unity among the various classes of personnel in corrections and the inadequacy of training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Forces is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)