Determinants of correctional officers' professional orientation

Sources of correctional officers' professional orientation (attitudes toward inmates and toward interaction with inmates) were analyzed using a recent measure, the Klofas-Toch measure. A review of the literature suggested important individual characteristic and organizational condition variables, considered to be determinants of orientation. As was true of several other investigations of officers' attitudes, however, little of the variation was explained. The conclusion considers several reasons for the lack of success in explaining officers' orientation.