Stress and Burnout in the Criminal Justice System

1 Stress and Burnout in the Criminal Justice System Introduction It is very common to hear people talk of life stresses. Among the working people, much of this stress comes from work itself or is work related. There are many people who are doing jobs they feel are not the right ones for them. It could be they chose wrongly or got disinterested in the job in the course of doing it. Others are in their right field but the work relations are not right. The most common source of stress for working people is pressure from bosses. This write up will discuss stress and burnout in the criminal justice system. A greater emphasis will be laid on correctional officers who spend greater time with offenders in the correctional facilities. The paper shall however draw conclusions based on the entire criminal justice system all of which shall have been discussed at the end.

Literature review Stress is a physical response to things that make one feel threatened or upset a person’s balance. Burnout on the other hand is the exhaustion of physical or emotional psyche due to prolonged stress or frustration.

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2 This means that you first undergo stress before reaching the point of burnout. In this write up we shall address burnout as one of the highest points that stress can go when in excess (Agolla, 2011).

In demographic studies of scholars in the past, it has been observed that age, length of tenure, marital status and sex relate to burnout occurrences. Attitudes such as cynicism towards social services, criminal justice and cynicism towards government itself are common in the prison systems. In the 1940s, sociologists regarded the concept of conformity to explain attitude formation, saying that people often adapt their line of thinking and attitudes in consistence with a reference group that is within their social circle. Recently the same attitude evolved to being seen as a way of coping with working place demands. Empirical evidence is necessary in the context of correctional officers to determine if it is just one of the dimensions of burnout syndrome.

Some authors have associated John Wayne Syndrome in officers to the rigid and conservative attitudes and as one of the components and both as escape mechanisms of the police.

Personality studies among general police forces have shown findings that would stimulate investigations of job burnout. Such individuals who exhibit signs of being weak, unassertive, unable to control emotions and very conventional are seen as prone to suffering burnout. Another measure of susceptibility to burnout is the ego-strength. It is agreed upon that people with lower levels of ego-strength have increased chances of burnout. Ego-strength is that psychological adjustment and ability to bounce back from a crisis.

Studies have shown that stress is significantly higher among younger police personnel and those who are more educated, specifically graduate level and with less experience. Living with family seems to have no significant influence on the stress levels among police officers. The

3 job is characterized by lack of time for family, low salary and negative public image and these are some of the contributors of stress (Agolla, 2011).

A number of researches have identified relationship between health related concerns with burnout. Such are headaches, hives, backaches and migraines. Even alcohol abuse is associated, in some instances, with burnout. The environment in which the correctional officers work can be a contributing factor to burnout. It often does not allow for free time for games and sports which could be very crucial in such a profession (Stotland & Pendleton, 1989, p. 5).

The work of people in the criminal justice system is critical not only from a psychological but also a physiological perspective. The job is full of stress and there are high chances of burnout in that set up. It requires keen mind presence. Some of the sources of stress in this job are among others, pressure of being on duty 24 hours, stress arising from rigid administrative policies, stress from changing shift hours, family disruptions when they bring work home and poor training. Other causes of stress that shall be addressed in this write up include role conflict, substandard pay, and exposure to brutality, substandard equipment, failure to get life opportunities, worries of incompetence, job dissatisfaction, personal evaluation of success or failure in life and safety. In exploratory studies, there has been found that police suffer premature deaths out of related ailments like heart disease and diabetes. Divorces and marital problems are also common among police not to mention that some of them go the extent of suicide. Most of their stresses are external or are caused by factors beyond the control of any of them like verbal abuse from the public (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007 p. 160).

The prison employees who deal with security are more susceptible to high levels of stress, burnout and often show it physically and psychologically or even as posttraumatic reactions to work stress. High ranking employees usually exhibit less stress and burnout. This is

4 mainly because their selection is more rigorous in terms of ability to cope with stress and their work is of different nature and rarely interacts with inmates.

It is not novel that officers experience burnout. Most of the past researches have shown that correctional workers are painted as hardened, alienated, always stressed, and that they are cynical and ritualistic. This is evident in the level of turnover and psychological distress they seem to be always going through (Stotland & Pendleton, 1989, p. 10).

Most criminal justice systems have become aware of this situation and are attending to it.

Since stress and burnout are often seen as personal issues that individuals should deal with, employees in many organizations are trained on how to identify personal stressors so that they can effectively deal with them. They use such techniques as meditation, relaxation and biofeedback. It is only when they show too much of stress that they are referred to the assistance programs. This system is limiting in that they gloss the patterns of the job employees are doing that contribute to the stress. Individual remedies do not really address the source of stress especially if it is external and that the employee assistance programs tend to be stigmatized due to association with alcoholic or employees who are defiant.

The nature of police work The work of police is to protect life and property. The nature of the work entails investigations, patrols, attendance to scenes of crime, accident attendance, traffic and also riots.

The nature of work environment is not similar in all places. Each one is unique. However internal work entails repetitive and boring procedures. Correctional officers on the other hand are not involved in much external work but rather internal work of its own kind (Stotland & Pendleton, 1989, p. 9).

The stressing nature of correctional officers

5 Contradicting expectations One of the difficult situations to handle for a prison warden in his line of duty is where he is supposed to healthily interact with inmates and at the same time not to fall into their games.

For instance, a correctional officer is expected to remain respectful of the inmate and at the same time be suspicious. The prison worker is also expected to listen carefully to the inmate and nurture them yet they are not trained counselors. One contradicting question is if they can become mentally and physically tough and at the same time be gentle in heart and mind when handling the inmates. In addition, officers are expected to be firm, fair, and consistent as opposed to being partial yet they are labeled as being badge happy when they follow the rules strictly.

Such kind of flexibility is more of a personality predisposition as opposed to good judgment.

This is often seen in circumstances when the officer is expected to make a decision on gray areas. Formal organizations instruct the officers not to be too needy while they are encouraged to rely on co-workers for backup. The other organizational tension relates to the relationship with fellow officers. While they keep watch of inmates, any wrong doing by fellow employees is supposed to be reported. This is a tight rope to walk on of solidarity versus autonomy. All these contradictions are among many others that contribute to officers’ stress and burnout. They will in the lightest impact cause confusion, displeasure and anxiety (Hall, 2009, p. 12).

Role in decision-making in the context of double binds When paradoxical instructions are issued, it may be difficult to make good decisions. The recipients of such instructions are likely to find themselves overanalyzing the instructions which may cause paralysis of thought. Such employees are likely to become paranoid and withdrawn.

Some of the officers have been quoted saying “thinking too much in this job can get you into trouble”. The officers therefore form the attitude of “just tell me what to do”. They refer the job

6 as requiring robot-like and unthinking employees (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007 p. 167). They avoid making decisions and regard a situation as requiring this solution or that other one and not any other. They avoid asking questions or even discussing contentious issues with their superiors and just become complacent.

The life of constantly being on the lookout can be stressing. There is lots of suspicion and mistrust of both fellow employees and inmates. The officer is most likely to see organizational life as a double bind itself and so the life of a correctional officer becomes contradictory in its entirety.

Stakeholders of the correctional officer job Just like a leadership position, the role of the correctional officer is very strongly influenced by both internal and external environments. Some of the interested parties are community activists, families of the inmates and others. Greater media coverage, active unions and associations and inmate litigation also have a role to play. Their influence today more than ever before has a big impact in the nature of a correctional officer’s role and they define a changing environment for the job.

Communication: a route to frame tensions as contradictions Contradictions often add to the bewilderment of a situation but they should not yield paralyzing effect on the emotions. Very few people are able to successfully reframe tensions into positive aspects to build their internal strengths. Administrators should be aware that double binds are debilitation especially when the recipients are not able to physically or psychologically get themselves out of the problem created by that message. The officers face communication barriers on the organisational contradictions due to the atmosphere of relations. The organisational norms are depicted as perfect and that the officers are the ones to set their minds

7 in line with the set policies. The administrative officers can enable correctional officers to step outside double binds by encouraging questions and metacommunication (Stotland & Pendleton, 1989, p. 7).

The changing role of a correctional officer The term correctional officer is not the original term of the prison warden. In fact, not so long ago, prison wardens used to be called guards. In the job of a correctional officer, safety and security moved from sixth position in terms of priority to the most important in 2008. This signified a change in priorities showing that human resources issue was a critical task.

Another change that was noted was the re-labeling of management of external environment as administering public relations. In the setup of a prison, aspiring wardens determine the task critically. Superiors can use this knowledge to seek the right assignments, education and training that will prepare these wardens as efficient correctional officers. New officers can also be subjected to competency profiles.

The decrease in violence even in such an era of inmates who are difficult to manage is not coincidental. It is a result of coordinated effort from each center of the correctional system.

The emphasis on safety and security has made it possible to work for a healthy organisational environment for both correctional officers and inmates.

Rule of the thumb It is a major cause of stress in criminal justice. It hampers administration of criminal justice in its inability to implement sound managerial and administrative practices. There are no best ways to do tasks identified within a job. This method was identified by Taylor as a scientific way of doing things for rational decision-making which he advocated for as the one most important element in management. This rule leaves the decision on how to do a task to workers.

8 It has taken toll on the criminal justice where administrators take these positions without organisational theory knowledge. There is thus lack of professionalism. They have personnel patterns through which even professional law enforcers and court clerks rise through the ranks to administrative positions without any managerial training.

The criminal justice system is therefore fragmented into a series of totally disconnected processes that do not have a common direction of aims. The systems are highly bureaucratic and have several rules that stress on efficiency but not on performance. In fact they suffer from excess of procedures and organisational charts (Hall, 2009, p. 12).

Time has come to change the criminal justice systems to better managed agencies that reflect good principles of justice. It needs new managerial talent so that there is proper planning and managerial reforms. Unless the system moves away from the bureaucratic and rigid methods of management, it will continue to dehumanize its officers and is doomed to fail in the current times when the world is consistently moving to effective management and democratization of institutions.

Bullying and harassment In the context of military or paramilitary environments, the method of passing communication is commands. This is absolute order which any junior officer is supposed to obey without question. In a situation where the junior officer is unwilling to perform a task or even feels incompetent to do it, he shall do it whatever it is. This if taken in the perspective of harassment may become stressing especially if it is done with partial justice, something that is very common in such circles. Harassment also comes when there is a blame culture. Senior officers would not accept responsibility for things not done right. Blaming it on junior officers is

9 very common and this may become very stressing to the victimized officer (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007 p. 163).

Poor working environment The main concern of the criminal justice system is safety and security. While they themselves are supposed to maintain security, their own security is not guaranteed. Other physical working environment stressors are excessive cold, uncomfortable working postures and malfunctioning equipment. There are lots of other physical stressors that will not be dealt with in this case. Some of those we shall not expound on are sleep debt, poor diet, alcohol misuse, smoking, lack of relaxation, excess or little exercise and others. These are especially known to accumulate over time and cause burnout if proper measures are not taken.

Myth of rehabilitation There have been feeble attempts to depict the criminal justice system as a rehabilitative agency. There are however some gross deficiencies in these attempts. Correction accepts that the task of trying to achieve the two opposing goals of rehabilitation and punishment at the same time is for the purpose of protecting the social order. As a result, the entire role of correction is trapped between different agencies, none of which accepts the role and this prevents any good efforts to achieve its success. What role then are the officers in these agencies supposed to play?

Criminal justice system is supposed to control crime and any role that would be defined as crucial in achieving this overall task should be handled by the system. It thus necessitates redefinition of tasks and methods of carrying them out (Hall, 2009, p. 12).

Court staff Even though they are involved in their own way in criminal justice, their work is less traumatic and the stresses are of a unique kind. Theirs could be handled from a perspective of

10 any other office job. Judges and magistrates however have the responsibilities of making just decisions as this will affect the work and life of others, including the correctional officers and offenders.

Suggested ways to frame the organisational tensions The tension itself means that there are two lines of actions that cannot be taken all at once. In order to frame that tension one can choose the most satisfying action to take while viewing the tension as complementary and satisfying when solved (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007, p. 164).

Respect vs. suspect In such circumstances, you can become respectful to inmates by treating them as liars so that sometimes you treat them suspiciously while other times you respect them or even opt to be always on one side. When you treat them with respect, you are likely to get informants.

Nurture vs. discipline Here the correctional officer is advised to be empathetic but not caring. You need to be sometimes detached and tough while other times you interact with them.

Consistency vs. discipline Some instances call for rules while others need you to be flexible. No case is like the other and here you need to evaluate your conscience and logic to make a sound decision.

Solidarity vs. autonomy There are instances that require you to rely on other officers and in such circumstances; you need to do exactly that. You do not have to be their friends to get their backing.

Consequences of stress

11 Personnel in the criminal justice have been left to fight for themselves in the society as social and occupational isolates. The society is using them but does not respect them and does not even put any effort to assist them improve on their prestige. The worst affected are the police. In their work of ambiguous nature, they experience self hate and have resentment against their employer. Most of the stresses the police go through are transmitted from the organizations that employ them. Of great importance in the stress is that administrative rules that continually contract the officer’s authority. Their stresses may as well be transmitted to the individuals they are trying to correct and so this becomes a worsening cycle. The offenders become the scapegoats. In recent times the revolt of the client, the offender, and the support of the media and other interested parties leave the correctional officer between a stone and a hard place. There is no escape route. In the long run, these work stresses translate to a pressed officer who eventually suffers burnout (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007, p. 169).

A health perspective on stress impact on police The stressful nature of the policing work of law enforcement places the officers at a risk of high blood pressure, insomnia, rising levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post traumatic stress disorder and even suicide. Data from NHC studies of stress in police departments show that there are more females than males who have reportedly committed suicide among the police. The work is psychologically stressful and filled with danger, high demands, and exposes the officers to misery and death. Surprisingly, it showed that women feel stressed during daytime shifts since there are more chances of conflicts at this time. In the night shifts, what can become stressing is working alone without backups. There are many stressors in this work but the biggest have been found to be; killing someone in the line of duty, having your partner killed in the line of duty, failure to get support from the boss or department, disruption of

12 family time due to changes in shifts and dealing with the public hard headedness. Suicide cases in the police departments have been linked to four major stress factors namely divorce, alcohol, depression and failure to get help.

Signs and symptoms of stress and burnout Stress does cause outward changes in those suffering it. The signs can sometimes be identified early and action taken ahead of it becoming a problem. It would be easier to reduce and eliminate the cause if detected early. It is important to look for the changes in an individual or group. However the sufferer notices the changes in most times and it is important to look at how you are feeling and attempt to identify the causes. Stress symptoms can affect your body, feelings and thinking. Being able to recognize the symptoms you exhibit is important in the sense that you will be able to manage them. If unchecked, it could even result to serious health problems like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases. It therefore needs to be addressed within the shortest time possible. It may even mean raising the issue with an occupational health professional or even the line manager who will understand you.

Stress can manifest itself in several ways. Managers have a responsibility to manage staff showing these signs in different ways. Some of these signs are: Procrastination or loss of motivation – if a staff member seems no longer to feel the motivation to strive for good performance, or meet deadlines, the manager or the individual himself needs to do an assessment of what is causing it. Absenteeism and lateness – employees who come late to work and absent themselves from work could be experiencing burnout. Sometimes such employees seek several sick offs. People who are unhappy or stressed often have a suppressed immunity and could fall ill more frequently. Isolating themselves from others – when stressed and suffering burnout one

13 may feel disinterested in social gatherings with coworkers like coffee breaks and will often dodge out of office incognito.

Seeing things on the negative – stressed people may narrate all bad things that were present in a day and will often talk ill of the workplace. They are unable to find something positive that happened in the cause of the day (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007, p. 167).

Cynicism – this is exhibited by resentment and bitterness towards one’s job. One views like things will never get better and questions why he or she is there in the first place. There is even a possibility of perceiving things as worse than they actually are. Depression – this may come at the climax of prolonged burnout. Depression in turn can be exhibited in emotional outbursts, refusal to participate in social activities, lack of appetite and isolation. If not attended to, it can get to a point of excessive drinking and unexplained physical pains. Such symptoms need the attention of a doctor as soon as possible. Overreacting – people become easily irritated or frustrated with almost everything especially those done or said by coworkers. They get easily angered over small issues and give workmates a hard time being cautious of what they say or do near the victim else they be recipients of an outburst.

Other symptoms of stress and burnout include memory problems, lack of concentration, poor judgment, anxiety, constant worry, diarrhea or constipation, loss of sex drive, frequent colds, increased or decreased appetite, sleeping excessively or too little and feeling overwhelmed. At the workplace, there are increased grievances and complaints, disputes and arguments between staff, more staff turnover and reduced quality of work. Some serious symptoms of stress are chest pain, dizziness, nausea, pain in the shoulder or arm, sweating and short breath. These need emergency help since they may be warnings of a heart attack.

Factors that influence the stress tolerance of an individual

14 Support network – a strong network of supportive friends and family can be an asset at such stress times. Lonely and isolated people are more vulnerable to stress.

Sense of control – people with self confidence and who believe in their ability to control events are more able to persevere through such challenges. This is unlike those who are vulnerable that feel like things are out of control (Agolla, 2011).

Attitude and outlook – hardy people tend to have a more optimistic attitude and are more likely to welcome challenges. They have a strong sense of humor taking things in a lighter and accepting change. Knowledge and preparation – it is easier to cope with a stressful situation you are aware of and whose duration you can determine. Ability to deal with one’s own emotions – people who have developed a method of calming their stresses when feeling sad will find it easier to come back to balance within a short time.

How criminal justice system employees can deal with stress

15

Stress and Burnout in the Criminal Justice System Introduction It is very common to hear people talk of life stresses. Among the working people, much of this stress comes from work itself or is work related. There are many people who are doing jobs they feel are not the right ones for them. It could be they chose wrongly or got disinterested in the job in the course of doing it. Others are in their right field but the work relations are not right. The most common source of stress for working people is pressure from bosses. This write up will discuss stress and burnout in the criminal justice system. A greater emphasis will be laid on correctional officers who spend greater time with offenders in the correctional facilities. The paper shall however draw conclusions based on the entire criminal justice system all of which shall have been discussed at the end.

Literature review Stress is a physical response to things that make one feel threatened or upset a person’s balance. Burnout on the other hand is the exhaustion of physical or emotional psyche due to prolonged stress or frustration. This means that you first undergo stress before reaching the point of burnout. In this write up we shall address burnout as one of the highest points that stress can go when in excess (Agolla 2011).

In demographic studies of scholars in the past, it has been observed that age, length of tenure, marital status and sex relate to burnout occurrences. An attitude such as cynicism towards social services, criminal justice and towards government itself is common in the prison systems.

In the 1940s, sociologists regarded the concept of conformity to explain attitude formation, saying that people often adapt their line of thinking and attitudes in consistency with a reference

16 group that is within their social circle. Recently the same attitude evolved to being seen as a way of coping with working place demands. Empirical evidence is necessary in the context of correctional officers to determine if it is just one the dimensions of burnout syndrome. Some authors have associated John Wayne Syndrome in officers to the rigid and conservative attitudes and as one of the components and both as escape mechanisms of the police.

Personality studies among general police forces have shown findings that would stimulate investigations of job burnout. Such individuals who exhibit signs of being weak, unassertive, unable to control emotions and very conventional are seen as prone to suffering burnout. Another measure of susceptibility to burnout is the ego-strength. It is agreed upon that people with lower levels of ego-strength have increased chances of burnout. Ego-strength is that psychological adjustment and ability to bounce back from a crisis.

Studies have shown that stress is significantly higher among younger police personnel who are younger and those who are more educated, specifically graduate level and with less experience. Living with family seems to have no significant influence on the stress levels among police officers. The job is characterized by lack of time for family, low salary and negative public image and these are some of the contributors of stress (Agolla 2011).

A number of researchers have identified relationship between health related concerns with burnout. Such are headaches, hives, backaches and migraines. Even alcohol abuse is associated in some instances with burnout. The environment in which the correctional officers work can be a contributing factor to burnout. It often does not allow for free time for games and sports which could be very crucial in such a profession (Stotland & Pendleton 1989, p. 5).

The work of people in the criminal justice system is critical not only from a psychological but also a physiological perspective. The job is full of stress and there are high

17 chances of burnout in that set up. It requires keen mind presence. Some of the sources of stress in this job are among others, pressure of being on duty 24 hours, stress arising from rigid administrative policies, stress from changing shift hours, family disruptions when they bring work home and poor training. Other causes of stress that shall be addressed in this write up include role conflict, substandard pay, and exposure to brutality, substandard equipment, failure to get life opportunities, worries of incompetence, job dissatisfaction, personal evaluation of success or failure in life and safety. In exploratory studies, there has been found that police suffer premature deaths out of related ailments like heart disease and diabetes. Divorces and marital problems are also common among police not to mention that some of them go the extent of suicide. Most of their stresses are external or are caused by factors beyond the control of any of them like verbal abuse from the public (Malach-Pines & Keinan 2007 p. 160).

The prison employees who deal with security are more susceptible to high levels of stress, burnout and often show it physically and psychologically or even as posttraumatic reactions to work stress. High ranking employees usually exhibit less stress and burnout. This is mainly because their selection is more rigorous in terms of ability to cope with stress and their work is of different nature and rarely interacts with inmates.

It is not novel that officers experience burnout. Most of the past researches have shown that correctional workers are painted as hardened, alienated, always stressed, and that they are cynical and ritualistic. This is evident in the level of turnover and psychological distress they seem to be always going through (Stotland & Pendleton 1989, p. 10).

Most criminal justice systems have become aware of this situation and are attending to it.

Since stress and burnout are often seen as personal issues that individuals should deal with, employees in many organizations are trained on how to identify personal stressors so that they

18 can effectively deal with them. They use such techniques as meditation, relaxation and biofeedback. It is only when they show too much of stress that they are referred to the assistance programs. This system is limiting in that they gloss the patterns of the job employees are doing that contribute to the stress, individual remedies do not really address the source of stress especially if it is external and that the employee assistance programs tend to be stigmatized due to association with alcoholic or employees who are defiant.

The nature of police work The work of police is to protect life and property. The nature of the work entails investigations, patrols, attendance to scene of crime, accident attendance, traffic and also riots.

The nature of work environment is not similar in all places. Each one is unique. However internal work entails repetitive and boring procedures. Correctional officers on the other hand are not involved in much external work but rather internal work of its own kind (Stotland & Pendleton 1989, p. 9).

The stressing nature of correctional officers Contradicting expectations One of the difficult situations to handle for a prison warden in his line of duty is where he is supposed to healthily interact with inmates and at the same time not to fall into their games.

For instance, a correctional officer is expected to remain respectful of the inmate and at the same time be suspicious. The prison worker is also expected to listen carefully to the inmate and nurture them yet they are not trained counselors. One contradicting question is if they can become mentally and physically tough and at the same time be gentle in heart and mind when handling the inmates. In addition, officers are expected to be firm fair and consistent as opposed to being partial yet they are labeled as being badge happy when they follow the rules strictly.

19 Such kind of flexibility is more of a personality predisposition as opposed to good judgment.

This is often seen in circumstances when the officer is expected to make a decision on gray areas. Formal organizations instruct the officers not to be too needy while they are encouraged to rely on co-workers for backup. The other organizational tension relates to the relationship with fellow officers. While they keep watch of inmates, any wrong doing by fellow employees is supposed to be reported. This is a tight rope to walk on of solidarity versus autonomy. All these contradictions are among many others that contribute to officers’ stress and burnout. They will in the lightest impact cause confusion, displeasure and anxiety (Hall 2009, p. 12) Role in decision making in the context of double binds When paradoxical instructions are issued, it may be difficult to make good decisions. The recipients of such instructions are likely to find themselves overanalyzing the instruction which may cause paralysis of thought. Such employees are likely to become paranoid and withdrawn.

Some of the officers have been quoted saying ‘thinking too much in this job can get you into trouble’. The officers therefore form the attitude of ‘just tell me what to do’. They refer the job as requiring robot-like and unthinking employees (Malach-Pines & Keinan 2007 p. 167). They avoid making decisions and regard a situation as requiring this solution or that other one and not any other. They avoid asking questions or even discussing contentious issues with their superiors and just become complacent.

The life of constantly being on the lookout can be stressing. There is lots of suspicion and mistrust of both fellow employees and inmates. The officer is most likely to see organizational life as a double bind itself and so the life of a correctional officer becomes contradictory in its entirety.

Stakeholders of the correctional officer job

20 Just like a leadership position, the role of the correctional officer is very strongly influenced by both internal and external environments. Some of the interested parties are community activists, families of the inmates and others. Greater media coverage, active unions and associations and inmate litigation also has a role to play. Their influence today more than ever before has a big impact in the nature of a correctional officer’s role and they define a changing environment for the job.

Communication: a route to frame tensions as contradictions Contradictions often add to the bewilderment of a situation but they should not yield paralyzing effect on the emotions. Very few people are able to successfully reframe tensions into positive aspects to build their internal strengths. Administrators should be aware that double binds are debilitation especially when the recipients are not able to physically or psychologically get themselves out of the problem created by that message. The officers face communication barriers on the organisational contradictions due to the atmosphere of relations. The organisational norms are depicted as perfect and that the officers are the ones to set their minds in line with the set policies. The administrative officers can enable correctional officers to step outside double binds by encouraging questions and metacommunication (Stotland & Pendleton 1989, p. 7).

The changing role of a correctional officer The term correctional officer is not the original term of the prison warden. In fact, not so long ago, prison wardens used to be called guards. In the job of a correctional officer, safety and security moved from sixth position in terms of priority to the most important in 2008. This signified a change in priorities showing that human resources issue was a critical task.

21 Another change that was noted was the re-labeling of management of external environment as administering public relations. In the setup of a prison, aspiring wardens determine the task critically. Superiors can use this knowledge to seek the right assignments, education and training that will prepare these wardens as efficient correctional officers. New officers can also be subjected to competency profiles.

The decrease in violence even in such an era of inmates who are difficult to manage is not coincidental. It is a result of coordinated effort from each center of the correctional system.

The emphasis on safety and security has made it possible to work for a healthy organisational environment for both correctional officers and inmates.

Rule of the thumb It is a major cause of stress in criminal justice. It hampers administration of criminal justice in its inability to implement sound managerial and administrative practices. There are no best ways to do tasks identified within a job. This method identified by Taylor as a scientific way of doing things for rational decision making which he advocated for as the one most important element in management. This rule leaves the decision on how to do a task to workers. It has taken toll on the criminal justice where administrators take these positions without organisational theory knowledge. There is thus lack of professionalism. They have personnel patterns through which even professional law enforcers and court clerks rise through the ranks to administrative positions without any managerial training.

The criminal justice system is therefore fragmented into a series of totally disconnected processes that do not have a common direction of aims. The systems are highly bureaucratic and have several rules that stress on efficiency but not on performance. In fact they suffer from excess of procedures and organisational charts (Hall 2009, p. 12).

22 Time has come to change the criminal justice systems to better managed agencies that reflect good principles of justice. It needs new managerial talent so that there is proper planning and managerial reforms. Unless the system moves away from the bureaucratic and rigid methods of management, it will continue to dehumanize its officers and is doomed to fail in the current times when the world is consistently moving to effective management and democratization of institutions.

Bullying and harassment In the context of military or paramilitary environments, the method of passing communication is commands. This is absolute order which any junior officer is supposed to obey without question. In a situation where the junior officer is unwilling to perform a task or even feels incompetent to do it, he shall do it whatever it is. This if taken in the perspective of harassment may become stressing especially if it is done with partial justice, something that is very common in such circles. Harassment also comes when there is a blame culture. Senior officers would not accept responsibility for things not done right. Blaming it on junior officers is very common and this may become very stressing to the victimized officer (Malach-Pines & Keinan 2007 p. 163).

Poor working environment The main concern of the criminal justice system is safety and security. While they themselves are supposed to maintain security, their own security is not guaranteed. Other physical working environment stressors are excessive cold, uncomfortable working postures and malfunctioning equipment. There are lots of other physical stressors that will not be dealt with in this case. Some of those we shall not expound on are sleep debt, poor diet, alcohol misuse,

23 smoking, lack of relaxation, excess or little exercise and others. These are especially known to accumulate over time and cause burnout if proper measures are not taken.

Myth of rehabilitation There have been feeble attempts to depict the criminal justice system as a rehabilitative agency. There are however some gross deficiencies in these attempts. Correction accepts that the task of trying to achieve the two opposing goals of rehabilitation and punishment at the same time is for the purpose of protecting the social order. As a result, the entire role of correction is trapped between different agencies, none of which accepts the role and this prevents any good efforts to achieve its success. What role then are the officers in these agencies supposed to play.

Criminal justice system is supposed to control crime and any role that would be defined as crucial in achieving this overall task should be handled by the system. It thus necessitates redefinition of tasks and methods of carrying them out (Hall 2009, p. 12).

Court staff Even though they are involved in their own way in criminal justice, their work is less traumatic and the stresses are of a unique kind. Theirs could be handled from a perspective of any other office job. Judges and magistrates however have the responsibilities of making just decisions as this will affect the work and life of others, including the correctional officers and offenders.

Suggested ways to frame the Organisational tensions The tension itself means that there are two lines of actions that cannot be taken all at once. On order to frame that tension one can choose the most satisfying action to take while viewing the tension as complementary and satisfying when solved (Malach-Pines & Keinan 2007 p. 164).

24 Respect vs. suspect In such circumstances, you can become respectful to inmates by treating them as liars so that sometimes you treat them suspiciously while other times you respect them or even opt to be always on one side. When you treat them with respect, you are likely to get informants.

Nurture vs. discipline Here the correctional officer is advised to be empathetic but not caring. You need to be sometimes detached and tough while other times you interact with them.

Consistency vs. discipline Some instances call for rules while others need you to be flexible. No case is like the other and here you need to evaluate your conscience and logic to make a sound decision.

Solidarity vs. autonomy There are instances that require you to rely on other officers and in such circumstances; you need to do exactly that. You do not have to be their friends to get their backing.

Consequences of stress Personnel in the criminal justice have been left to fight for themselves in the society as social and occupational isolates. The society is using them but does not respect them and does not even put any effort to assist them improve on their prestige. The worst affected are the police. In their work of ambiguous nature, they experience self-hate and have resentment against their employer. Most of the stresses the police go through are transmitted from their organizations that employ them. Of great importance in the stress is that administrative rules that continually contract the officer’s authority. Their stresses may be as well be transmitted to the individuals they are trying to correct and so this becomes a worsening cycle. The offenders become the scapegoats. In recent times the revolt of the client: the offender and the support of

25 the media and other interested parties leave the correctional officer between a stone and a hard place. There is no escape route. In the long run, these work stresses translate to a pressed officer who eventually suffers burnout (Malach-Pines and Keinan 2007 p. 169).

A health perspective on stress impact on police The stressful nature of the policing work of law enforcement places the officers at a risk of high blood pressure, insomnia, rising levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder and even suicide. Data from NHC studies of stress in police departments show that there are more females than males who have reportedly committed suicide among the police. The work is psychologically stressful and filled with danger; high demands and exposes the officers to misery and death. Surprisingly, it showed that women feel stressed during daytime shifts since there are more chances of conflicts at this time. In the night shifts, what can become stressing is working alone without backups. There are many stressors in this work but the biggest have been found to be; killing someone in the line of duty, having your partner killed in the line of duty, failure to get support from the boss or department, disruption of family time due to changes in shifts and dealing with the public hard headedness. Suicide cases in the police departments have been linked to four major stress factors namely divorce, alcohol, depression and failure to get help.

Signs and symptoms of stress and burnout Stress does cause outward changes in those suffering it. The signs can sometimes be identified early and action taken ahead of it becoming a problem. It would be easier to reduce and eliminate the cause if detected early. It is important to look for the changes in an individual or group. However the sufferer notices the changes in most times and it is important to look at how you are feeling and attempt to identify the causes. Stress symptoms can affect your body,

26 feelings and thinking. Being able to recognize the symptoms you exhibit is important in the sense that you will be able to manage them. If unchecked, it could even result to serious health problems like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases. It therefore needs to be addressed within the shortest time possible. It may even mean raising the issue with an occupational health professional or even the line manager who will understand you.

Stress can manifest itself in several ways. Managers have a responsibility to manage staff showing these signs in different ways. Some of these signs are: Procrastination or loss of motivation – if a staff member seems no longer to feel the motivation to strive for good performance, or meet deadlines, the manager or the individual himself needs to do an assessment of what is causing it. Absenteeism and lateness – employees who come to work late and absent themselves from work could be experiencing burnout. Sometimes such employees seek several sick offs. People who are unhappy or stressed often have a suppressed immunity and could fall ill more frequently. Isolating one from others – when stressed and suffering burnout one may feel disinterested in social gatherings with coworkers like coffee breaks and will often dodge out of office incognito.

Seeing things on the negative – stressed people may narrate all bad things there was in a day and will often talk ill of the work place. They are unable to find something positive that happened in the cause of the day (Malach-Pines & Keinan 2007 p. 167).

Cynicism – this is exhibited by resentment and bitterness towards one’s job. One views like things will never get better and questions why he or she is there in the first place. There is even a possibility of perceiving things as worse than they actually are: Depression – this may come at the climax of prolonged burnout. Depression in turn can be exhibited in emotional outbursts, refusal to participate in social activities, lack of appetite and

27 isolation. If not attended to, it can get to a point of excessive drinking and unexplained physical pains. Such symptoms need the attention of a doctor as soon as possible.

Overreacting – people become easily irritated or frustrated with almost everything especially those done or said by coworkers. They get easily angered over small issues and give workmates a hard time being cautious of what they say or do near the victim else they be recipients of an outburst.

Other symptoms of stress and burnout include memory problems, lack of concentration, poor judgment, anxiety, constant worry, diarrhea or constipation, loss of sex drive, frequent colds, increased or decreased appetite, sleeping excessively or too little and feeling overwhelmed. At the workplace, there are increased grievances and complaints, disputes and arguments between staff, more staff turnover and reduced quality of work. Some serious symptoms of stress are chest pain, dizziness, nausea, pain in the shoulder or arm, sweating and short breath. These need emergency help since they may be warnings of a heart attack.

Factors that influence the stress tolerance of an individual Support network – a strong network of supportive friends and family can be an asset at such stress times. Lonely and isolated people are more vulnerable to stress.

Sense of control – people with self-confidence and who believe in their ability to control events are more able to persevere through such challenges. This is unlike those who are vulnerable that feel like things are out of control (Agolla, 2011).

Attitude and outlook – hardy people tend to have a more optimistic attitude and are more likely to welcome challenges. They have a strong sense of humor taking things in a lighter and accepting change. Knowledge and preparation – it is easier to cope with a stress situation you are aware of and whose duration you can determine. Ability to deal with one’s own emotions –

28 people who have developed a method of calming their stresses when feeling sad will find it easier to come back to balance within a short time.

How criminal justice system employees can deal with stress Being open to abilities, limitations and possibilities It is very important to accept one’s abilities, limits and possibilities. To develop means to accept oneself even if one does not like what he is or does. One should be aware that it is not easy to live up to all you wanted to be. It therefore calls for placing reasonable demands upon one. It is also crucial to let things go when they happen the way they were not expected. If nothing can be done about it, it is reasonable to shrug your shoulders and accept your limits while focusing on moving on. Learning from past experiences means that one can change the way you respond to situations in future (Leiter & Malach, 2000).

Living with contentment This means a general feeling of satisfaction with one’s life in spite of difficulties, dissatisfactions, feelings of security and feelings of desire to change. The expectations will better be flexible here because despite the feeling of contentment, life will not be automatically easy to live.

Realizing that other people are important for co-dependency and circumstances It means involving people where circumstances necessitate. Being cooperative, searching for help or support when required and adapting to changing circumstances are crucial. When being cooperative, one gives, takes, and shares the burden and acceptance that you cannot always get what you want and so others are important. It means taking the good and the bad especially at work where not everything is interesting but has to be done. You adapt to others’ point of view even when you differ in opinion. You do not have to fight especially when the fight seems

29 meaningless. Most police officers do not seek assistance from colleagues because they think it will be viewed as weak. This is a form of denial and it is perhaps due to the thought that such help would only reveal to their colleagues their weaknesses and this makes them fall victim of stress (Malach-Pines & Keinan, 2007).

When searching for others’ help one needs to humble oneself and realizing that you could do with some help. You seek help where you feel safe and understood. Adapting to or changing circumstances means realizing that things influence each other; that is, private life influences work life and vice versa. Through changing of attitude about a situation at work, you could improve your private life since you will not be taking it as a stressor any more.

Caring for one in order to keep healthy Caring for oneself so as to keep healthy entails satisfying one’s own needs and also setting limits for yourself when you have had enough. Satisfying one’s own needs: This means taking time for oneself through allowing oneself just ‘to be’ and doing nothing. Doing things one is interested in and likes is very important; for instance reading a book or indulging one’s love of animals. It also means having personal moments to empty one’s mind (Leiter & Malach, 2000).

Setting limits for one means to first understand where your limits lie. It could be taking a day off even when not sick and deliberating on progress against targets and also taking time to relax without any major task ahead.

Confiding in life as it is given It entails counting on life’s advantages and adversities. This means you have to be aware that some things just occur in life and that nothing can be done about them. It is of importance to have a positive look of things and when better things come, acknowledge that it is through a combination of both effort and sometimes luck.

30 The role of government and senior administration Stress and burnout could be greatly reduced if these parties play their part well. The government has a responsibility of channeling enough resources for a motivating remuneration of criminal justice system. It should also ensure proper selection of the senior and other managerial officers. There should be a review of policies governing task execution to reflect a modern agency that accommodates the changed environment in its entirety. There should be more scrutiny of officers at entry point to ensure they can effectively handle some level of stress.

There should also be stress management training during service (Stotland & Pendleton, 1989, p.

7). There is need for research as to whether there is need for trained counseling personnel need to be incorporated into the criminal justice system to assist officers who are suffering from stress and burnout.

31 References Agolla, J. E. Occupational stress among police officers: the case of Botswana police service.

Retrieved November 24, 2011 from http://scialert.net/fulltext/? doi=rjbm.2009.25.35&org=10 Hall, T. (2009, Feb 2006). Burnout among police officers: differences in how male, female police officers manage stress ay accentuate stress on the job. Science Daily, p.12 Leiter, M. P. & Malach, C. (2000). Preventing burnout and building engagement: a complete program for organizational renewal. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Malach-Pines, A. & Keinan, G. (2007). Stress and burnout in Israel police officers during Palestinian uprising (Intifada). International Journal of Stress Management, 14: 160-174.

Stotland, E. & Pendleton, M. (1989). Workload, stress and strain among police officers.

Behavioral Medicine, 15, 5-17.