Hayden P. Smith

Institutional Responses to Self-Injurious Behavior Among Inmates

To date, little research has systematically investigated perceptions of mental health professionals regarding motivations for self-injury among prison inmates. To help fill this gap, the authors used descriptive techniques to examine self-injurious behavior among inmates from the perspective of correctional mental health professionals. A quantitative survey assessed perceptions of mental health staff regarding etiology, motivations, and manifestations of self-injury. A qualitative interview component was used to explicate responses from the survey. Inmate cutting, scratching, opening old wounds, and inserting objects were the most commonly witnessed behaviors. Findings suggest that self-injury occurred regularly and that a subset of inmates are responsible for recurrent events. Mental health professionals perceived the motivation for inmate self-injury to be both manipulative and a coping mechanism. They described current management strategies and corresponding needs for training and resources.

The Prevalence and Characteristics of Police Practitioner–Researcher Partnerships:

Consistent with the current models of governance in public sector organizations, there have been an increasing number of advocates within the law enforcement community calling for agencies to participate in partnerships with researchers. Despite this support, little is known about the prevalence of police practitioner–researcher partnerships, nor has there been any examination into which agencies participate in partnerships with researchers or the reasons why agencies do not participate. The present study addresses these gaps in knowledge by reporting on findings from a national survey of law enforcement agencies on research partnership participation. The results reveal nearly one third of responding agencies reported they had participated in a research partnership within the last 5 years. The most common reason provided for not participating in these relationships was a lack of funding resources. Discussion on the future expansion of police practitioner–researcher partnerships in light of these findings is provided

INMATE SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIORS Distinguishing Characteristics Within a Retrospective Study

The current study examines demographic, health functioning, and criminogenic correlates of self-injurious behaviors. Incident reports for all 28 South Carolina correctional facilities were collected during a 30-month period, evidencing 189 inmates who self-injure contrasted with 22,794 inmates who do not. Self-injury was significantly associated with the disproportionate utilization of health resources, specifically through major mental health treatment and institutional restriction. Characteristics of incarcerated self-injurers revealed discernible maladjustment to the correctional milieu, with each self-injury incident being associated with a 37% increase in the number of disciplinary incidents. Moreover, the earlier incarceration period represented a period of greater risk. Each additional year in prison was associated with a 25% increase in self-injurious events, which then declined with further years of imprisonment. These unique characteristics are discussed, and salient policy implications are recommended.

The utilization of research by the police

The present-day interest in linking police practitioners and researchers in the USA finds its roots in a 40-year old recommendation made by the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. Specifically, the Commission called for the use of social science to assist law enforcement agencies in their efforts to understand better and address the problems they face in their related communities. This advocacy spawned the rapid growth of empirical research intended to provide support to the law enforcement community. Moreover, these research endeavours found important support in federal grant funding initiatives from the US Department of Justice through the National Institute of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Despite this tremendous effort to link the police practitioner and research communities, there has been little knowledge on whether the resulting empirical knowledge is utilized by the law enforcement community in the USA. The article explores the degree of this utilization through the findings of a national survey of approximately 850 law enforcement agencies in the USA. The survey explored whether law enforcement executives utilize research to inform their decisions on policy development and operations, to what areas of agency operations they have applied this research and the sources they rely upon to find this empirical knowledge. The findings show that reported use of research findings may not necessarily reflect a connection with the empirical work of the research community.

Examining Officer and Citizen Accounts of Police Use-of-Force Incidents

This study contributes to the body of knowledge of police–citizen contacts by investigating perceptions and behaviors during encounters that result in physical resistance and force. The authors use the accounts literature as a way to understand police–citizen interactions. The data include interviews with citizens who resisted or were accused of resisting lawful police commands and those officers who used force to control these citizens. The goals are to understand the dynamics of police–citizen interactions that use force, to make sense of the actors’ perspectives, and, finally, to examine the processes within the deference–resistance continuum. The data show that officers and citizens focus on different issues when interacting and justify their behavior by the identification and maintenance of their self-prescribed roles.

Self-Injurious Behaviors in State Prisons Findings From a National Survey

Self-injurious behaviors in correctional facilities have been reported as a significant threat to inmates, staff, and institutional operations. This study is the first national survey to inquire about self-injurious behavior in incarcerated prison populations. Surveys were mailed to mental health professionals working in state facilities that provided mental health services and housed 100 plus inmates. Data were received from 230 respondents representing 473 prison facilities. The average prevalence of inmate self-injury was 2.4%, and it was 0.7% for serious self-injury. Cutting was reported as the most frequent act of self-injury, with considerable concern for the importation of self-injury tools reported. Treatment responses were typically therapeutic or punitive, with a significant portion of facilities employing suicide protocols to address self-injurious behaviors. Results from negative binomial regressions suggest institutional characteristics associated with the prevalence of inmate self-injury include female-only institutions, specialized maximum-security units, and elevated staffing ratios.

The Meaning of the Cut: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Prisoner Self-injury

Self-injurious behaviors (SIBs) represent a significant threat to the morbidity and mortality of vulnerable prisoners, and are now a ubiquitous aspect of the correctional system. Currently, correctional staff receive little specific training or appropriate guidance from national standards to respond to this dangerous behavior. To date, the overwhelming majority of empirical research on self-injury in prison has relied upon the viewpoint of academicians and/or correctional staff. This select viewpoint has reduced the perspective of the self-injuring prisoner to a passive role. In response, we utilized a qualitative methodology to access the perspectives of 20 highly recidivistic self-injuring inmates housed in three South Carolina prison. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to identify fundamental themes underlying SIBs. Findings indicate that the meaning of self-injury is rooted in traumatic family milieus with the behavior becoming a fixed coping mechanism over time. Respondents perceived stress and control as dominant themes, though mental illness, physiological responses, and negative emotional states were also important. While desistance from self-injury appears unlikely, key policy solutions are presented in accordance with these inmate perspectives. This phenomenological inquiry suggests that efforts to understand these inmate “accounts” and personal history serve as a potentially efficacious means of understanding SIBs occurring in prison.

CONDUCTING BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Over the past decade a broad cross section of research has been carried out under the rubric of best practices (Bendixson and de Guchteneire, 2003). This article takes a closer look at best practices research and its application to the field of public affairs. First, two questions are addressed: what is best practice? And what is best practice research? Next, some of the major methodical criticisms of best practice research are addressed. The two major approaches (e.g. quantitative/microeconomic and qualitative/case study) to conducting best practices research are then identified and discussed. A recent qualitative/case study best practices research effort conducted by the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Central Florida is then detailed. As part of this recitation, a tripartite schema to classify qualitative/case study approaches to best practices research is presented.

From the Inside: The Meaning of Probation to Probationers

Beyond considerations of relative punitiveness, very little is known about how offenders understand the experience of serving a probation sentence. The current study surveyed offenders currently on probation to assess the extent to which they believed their sentence was rehabilitative, incapacitative, deserved, and a deterrent to future offending. Perceptions that probation served no purpose and that it represented a game of manipulation and impression management were also investigated. The results showed that most probationers believed that their sentence was a deterrent, and it was rehabilitative and deserved. They also felt that probation served multiple purposes, and a minority of respondents perceived that there was no point to being on probation. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of emotional dissonance and job desirability in predicting correctional officer turnover intentions

Correctional officers represent the most important component of penitentiaries, as they are required to regulate prisoner conduct and establish safety within the prison. Recent literature, however, reveals that many officers resign from their position shortly after being hired. Although extant literature has found a number of variables to significantly impact officer resignation intentions, including pay dissatisfaction and poor supervisory evaluations, no study has yet evaluated the influences of emotional dissonance and job desirability in predicting this outcome. Survey data collected from a statewide population of officers are used to examine the impact of these specific variables in predicting officer turnover intentions. While emotional dissonance did not have as influential an impact as originally hypothesized, officer evaluations of job desirability instead exhibited a positive and highly significant connection. To reduce officer turnover, prison administrators should improve officer working conditions, provide them some emotional outlets, and make this profession more attractive.