Prison staff's perceptions of procedural justice in English and Welsh prisons: A quantitative study
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Author | Helen Wakeling,Flora Fitzalan Howard |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12469 |
Received: 17 February2021 Accepted: 9 August 2021
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12469
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Prison staff’s perceptions of procedural justice
in English and Welsh prisons: A quantitative
study
Helen Wakeling Flora Fitzalan Howard
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation
Service, England and Wales
Correspondence
Helen Wakeling,Her Majesty’s Prison and
Probation Service, England and Wales.
Email: helen.wakeling@justice.gov.uk
Abstract
This study aimed to develop a measure of procedural jus-
tice (PJ) perceptions for prison staff, and used this to
explore perceptions. A measure of PJ perceptions was
created, which had good reliability and validity. Explo-
ration of PJ perceptions found that male, older, more
experienced and disciplinary staff held significantly less
positive PJ perceptions. Positive PJ perceptions were
associated with improved staff motivation and commit-
ment, reduced stress, reduced sickness, and a more pos-
itive orientation towards prison residents. Better staff PJ
was also associated with better prison residents’ PJ. The
importance of ensuring staff feel that their workplace is
fair is discussed.
KEYWORDS
measurement, prison staff, procedural justice (PJ), rehabilitation
1 INTRODUCTION
Procedural justice (PJ) theory purports that if people experience official procedures as fair and
just they will be more likely to comply with and abide by the law (Tyler, 1990). PJ involves four
components (Tyler,2008): voice (having the chance to voice one’s views and to feel that authority
figures will sincerely consider this), neutrality (seeing authority figures to be neutral and princi-
pled decision makers, who are unbiased and consistent), respect (feeling respected and treated
courteously by authority figures, and having one’s rights respected), and trust (seeing authority
figures to have trustworthy motives, and to be sincere and authentic).
© 2022 Crown copyright. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice © 2022 Howard League and JohnWiley & Sons Ltd. This article is
published with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland
Howard J. Crim. Justice. 2022;61:185–202. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hojo 185
186 THE HOWARDJOURNAL OF CRIME AND JUSTICE
Within the criminal justice system, there is a sizeable body of literature in the area of policing,
to some degree in courts, and more recently in prisons settings, which supports the PJ theory.
Most prison-based PJ research has focused on prison residents. This work has reported relation-
ships between resident perceptions of unjust treatment and greater misconduct (Beijersbergen
et al., 2015a; Bierie, 2013;Day,Brauer&Butler,2015; Fitzalan Howard & Wakeling, 2020),
poorer mental health (e.g., Beijersbergen et al., 2014; Fitzalan Howard & Wakeling, 2020), and
poorer reoffending outcomes following release (Beijersbergen, Dirkswager & Nieuwbeerta,
2016).
There has been less research attention given to prison staff perceptions of PJ. What research
does exist comes mostly from North America and Canada. Prison staff perceptions of organisa-
tional PJ have been found to improve job satisfaction and intentionto remain in their job (Boateng
& Hsieh, 2019;Colquittetal.,2001; Lambert et al., 2020). A recent systematic review also found
that PJ was a strong predictor of turnover intent in criminal justice organisations (Matz, Woo &
Kim, 2014). In a further study, when staff believed they were treated fairly and justly at work,
they were more satisfied with their lives, had lower levels of burnout and were less likely to want
to leave their jobs (Lambert et al., 2010). A handful of studies (Boateng & Hsieh, 2019; Lambert,
Hogan & Griffin, 2007) have found that higher ratings of PJ by staff are significantly associated
with more positive job satisfaction and greater commitment to the organisation. When staff expe-
rienced greater PJ they were also more likely to go ‘above and beyond’ what was expected from
them at work (Lambert & Hogan, 2013). In prisons, staff perceptions of PJ appear to be related
to their perceived fear and risk of victimisation by prison residents (Taxman & Gordon, 2009).
More positive perceptions of PJ have further been linked to a reduction in stress (Rousseauet al.,
2009).
Staff PJ perceptions have also been found to be significantly related to whether staff are more
oriented towards the rehabilitation or punishment of prison residents, with those who perceive
their treatment to be fair favouring the former,and vice versa (Lambert et al., 2011; Peterman et al.,
2021). This relationship has also been reported in policing research; officers holding more posi-
tive PJ perceptions of their workplace and their treatment by supervisors, in turn, treat citizens
in the community more fairly (e.g., Bradford et al., 2013; Trinkner, Tyler & Goff, 2016). Together
this might suggest that if prison staff perceptions are associated with variations in how they treat
residents, and resident perceptions are related to how they are treatedby staff, then perhaps there
is a direct relationship between staff and resident perceptions of PJ. Gender may also play a role
here, with research in the Netherlands indicating that residents in prison units with more female
staff tend to hold more positive perceptions of PJ (Beijersbergen et al., 2015b). Research and theo-
retical arguments regarding other features of prison staff indicate, although not consistently, that
older age, tenure and education level may be associated with differences in attitudes (i.e., more
punitive or rehabilitative) towards prison residents, and their interactionswith, and treatment of,
those in their care (see Lambert, Hogan & Barton-Bellessa, 2011).
Within the reasonably small prison-based body of research a somewhat mixed picture with
regards to staff PJ perceptions and individual and workplace variables is observed. A number of
studies report a statistically significant negative relationship between PJ perceptions and tenure,
and also role overload; mixed findings have been reported regarding age and supervisory status;
and gender, ethnicity and education level appear in the existing studies to be unrelated to PJ per-
ceptions (Baker,Gordon & Taxman, 2015; Boateng & Hsieh, 2019; Lambert, Hogan & Griffin, 2007;
Lambert et al., 2020; Taxman & Gordon, 2009). Further, in a reasonably recent study, neither
prison security level or population size were found to affect staff perceptions; however, if leaders
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