Educational Instructors’ Attitudes Toward Juvenile Inmates: The Effect of the Inmate’s Role in a Criminal Event and the Instructors’ Belief in a Just World

• Published date: 01 March 2018
• Date: 01 March 2018
• Author: Yaacov Reuven,Inna Levy
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X16660556
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X16660556

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2018, Vol. 62(4) 1000 –1017

© The Author(s) 2016

Reprints and permissions:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

DOI: 10.1177/0306624X16660556

journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo

Article

Educational Instructors’

Attitudes Toward Juvenile

Inmates: The Effect of the

Inmate’s Role in a Criminal

Event and the Instructors’

Belief in a Just World

Inna Levy1,2 and Yaacov Reuven3

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine factors that affect educational instructors’

attitudes toward juvenile inmates in corrective educational facilities. Educational

instructors play an important role in the rehabilitation of juvenile inmates, and their

attitudes may affect the adolescents’ chances of rehabilitation. We adopted an ecological

perspective and explored the relationship between instructors’ belief in a just world

(BJW) and the role of inmates in a criminal event (offender/victim). The study included

196 educational instructors. They answered a questionnaire on their background, BJW

levels, and attitudes toward juvenile inmates. Results show that educational instructors

perceived “victim” inmates as significantly more delinquent and less treatable than

“offender” inmates, and that a BJW affected attitudes toward juvenile inmates. The

theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed in this article.

Keywords

attitudes, juvenile inmate, correctional staff, just world, victim blaming

Introduction

Effective correctional intervention is greatly dependent on the interpersonal influence

exerted by correctional staff members (Dowden & Andrews, 2004). Positive attitudes

among the correctional staff toward inmates contribute to the success of the inmates’

1Ariel University, Israel

2Zefat Academic College, Israel

3Kinneret Academic College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel

Corresponding Author:

Inna Levy, Criminology Department, Ariel University, Ariel, 40700, Israël.

Email: inna.levy1@gmail.com

660556IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X16660556International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyLevy and Reuven

research-article2016

Levy and Reuven 1001

rehabilitation (Kjelsberg, Skoglund, & Rustad, 2007). Conversely, negative and puni-

tive attitudes toward juvenile inmates can damage the inmates’ quality of life and

prospects for rehabilitation (De Valk et al., 2015).

Due to society’s concern for rehabilitating minors (Oropeza, 2004), this study

explores the factors that may explain attitudes toward juvenile inmates. We focused on

educational instructors working in correctional boarding schools. Similar to correctional

staff members (Gordon, 1999; Paoline & Lambert, 2012), educational instructors assume

several roles, from ensuring the safety and security in the facility to caring for juvenile

inmates (Reuven, 2008). They are also expected to create a social environment that is

conducive to promoting a positive change (Van der Helm, Boekee, Stams, & Van der

Laan, 2011). However, in the absence of professional training, the job description of

educational instructor is unclear (Reuven, 2008), and their attitudes may be influenced

by variables not related to the institutional policies and to the inmates’ best interest.

Previous studies on the correctional staff’s attitudes toward adolescent offenders

mainly focused on specific variables. These included the respondents’ demographic

characteristics (e.g., Ben-David & Reuven, 2015; Bohsiu, 2000; Marsh & Evans,

2006; Mears, 2001; Sprott, 1999) and beliefs (e.g., Davis, Severy, Kraus, & Whitaker,

1993; Greene & Evelo, 2013; Mears, Hay, Gertz, & Mancini, 2007; Redding & Hensl,

2011), and the characteristics of the juvenile offenders (e.g., Farnum & Stevenson,

2013; Najdowski & Bottoms, 2015). This approach lacks sensitivity to the complexity

of juvenile correctional settings and issues.

The current study aims to fill this gap in the existing research by adopting the eco-

logical perspective (McLaren & Hawe, 2005). According to the ecological framework,

behaviors and attitudes are the functions of interactions between individual and con-

textual factors (Espelage & Swearer, 2010; McLaren & Hawe, 2005). In this context,

“belief in a just world” represents the individual factor, while the role of inmates in

criminal events represents the contextual factor. This study provides insights into the

interrelationship between the correctional staff’s attitudes toward juvenile inmates, the

staff’s tendency to believe in a just world, and the circumstances surrounding juvenile

inmates. Such information can be helpful to the practitioners and policy makers

responsible for promoting rehabilitation processes among juvenile inmates.

Belief in a Just World (BJW)

BJW refers to the basic assumptions that underlie the way people act and interact in a

social environment (Lerner, 1980). According to the BJW theory, an observer’s

response to an individual’s suffering depends upon the observer’s perception of guilt

and blameworthiness (Lerner & Simmons, 1966; Rubin & Peplau, 1973). The BJW

theory states that people believe that individuals deserve what they get and get what

they deserve (for more extensive introductions to the Just-World Theory, see, for

example, Hafer, 2000; Hafer & Bègue, 2005; Lerner & Simmons, 1966; Ross & Miller,

2002). BJW allows us to adapt to the world (Xie, Liu, & Gan, 2011), to cope better

with stress (Furnham, 2003), and to imbue our lives with meaning (Begue & Bastounis,

2003). The notion of an unjust world disturbs and worries us (Lerner & Miller, 1978).