Interactions Between Personality Traits of Law Enforcement and Corrections Officers and Attitudes Toward Felony Drug Offenders

The purpose of the study was to determine significance of relationship between punitive attitudes in criminal justice staff towards felony drug offenders, as related to level of social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism, Protestant work ethic orientation, and openness to change. Law enforcement and corrections officers have been shown to have higher than average rates of low levels of agreement with understanding the protective factors involved in recidivism prevention and the protective factors involved in recovery related to substance abuse and exhibit higher than average levels of high SDO and high RWA. These traits were hypothesized to contribute to continued acceptance of a paradigm emphasizing use of restrictions, penalties, and punishment to address substance abuse/addiction. To more closely match the general population, the study utilized 28 law enforcement officers, 14 corrections officers, and 58 noncriminal justice individuals, who were at least 18 years of age, U.S. citizens, voted in 1 election, and work =/>20 hrs. Data were collected remotely over 4 months using Altemeyer's Abbreviated RWA Scale, SDO-6 scale, Miles and Garrett's Protestant Work Ethic Scale, Attitudes to Organizational change, Officer's Attitude Survey, and researcher designed survey, entered into SPSS-23, and analyzed via linear multiple regression analysis to examine for moderation and mediation between variables. Results indicated both moderating and mediating effects between variables, except in the case of openness to change. Literature supported the results that these personality traits are related to how criminal justice staff interact with individuals involved with the criminal justice system. Literature also supported that more than the presence of such personality traits have a relationship with these interactions. Complex groups of variables, both internal and external, create these interactions, and it is therefore more relevant to focus on assisting criminal justice staff in dealing with the challenges they face in a more psychologically healthy manner.