Robert Worley

• Ph.D
• Professor at Lamar University

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) refer to going above and beyond what is expected at work; they are important for the improved functioning of many organizations, including institutional corrections. Trust in supervisors and trust in management may be related to institutional correctional staff engaging in OCBs. The current study examined...

In his book, Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever, Matt Singer provides readers with a thoughtful examination of the twenty-three-year collaboration of two of the most successful and widely known film critics ever to appear on television. As the author discusses, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert worked at rival newspapers—the Chic...

For prisons and jails to run effectively and efficiently, correctional officers need to follow institutional policies and rules. Failure to follow the rules could lead to deviant acts of officer-on-inmate brutality, inappropriate staff-inmate relationships, as well as a variety of other unprofessional behaviors that could undermine the prison regim...

Private prison staff are a valuable resource, and they can be affected by various workplace variables. The effects of organizational justice on counterproductive staff behaviors in a sample of correctional staff at a private prison were examined using organizational-justice theory. Specifically, the association of distributive and procedural justic...

Correctional officers are a valuable and expensive resource for prisons. Working as a correctional officer is a unique experience; it involves controlling incarcerated individuals, and this results in demands that can wear on officers, increasing chances of suffering depression. Social support has been postulated to help buffer the negative effects...

Many correctional officers who work in close proximity with inmates are at a heightened risk of experiencing feelings of psychological distress. We analyzed 501 surveys collected from correctional officers within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to identify characteristics of officers who are likely to exhibit signs of depression. Our findi...

In this exploratory study, we conducted in-depth interviews with three females who were employed in the sex industry which ultimately led to their arrest, conviction, and registration as a sex offender. In all three cases, the interviewees were co-offenders who committed a sex crime at the behest of a dominant male partner whom they met through the...

Robert M. Worley interviews Brian Forst about Hans Ziesel, one of the pioneers of voir dire and the systematic study of jury behavior.

Life satisfaction is a positive overall feeling towards one’s life and is an important factor for employees and their employers. There has been little research on life satisfaction of staff working at correctional institutions who play an important security role in the care, custody, and control of offenders. The current study explored how work env...

In his book, Fire in the Big House, criminal justice historian, Mitchel P. Roth provides readers with an in-depth analysis of America’s deadliest penal disaster. The book specifically examines a horrific fire which occurred at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio on April 21, 1930—Easter Monday. Even though 320 prisoners perished in this d...

In Hicks v. Alabama , the court ruled in favor of the prison agency when female correctional officers filed a suit against the state and several supervisors for sexual harassment by inmates. In the aforementioned case, the plaintiffs alleged that their superiors failed to control inmates from masturbating in their presence, which constituted a host...

Staff are the most vital resource for any correctional facility. As corrections is a very expensive budget item in the U.S., finding and keeping dedicated employees is essential. Organizational commitment refers the bond between correctional staff and their institution. A strong bond is essential for the safety and security of both employees and in...

Some correctional officers end their careers in disgrace when they engage in acts of cruelty against the very inmates they are paid to protect. In the present study, we administered 501 questionnaires to prison guards within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in order to identify characteristics of officers who may possess attitudes favorable...

In his new book, The Taming of New York’s Washington Square, Erich Goode employs rich and detailed observations, as well as in-depth interviews, in order to study deviance in one of the nation’s most famous parks. Recently Robert M. Worley, Book Review Editor of Theory in Action asked the author a few questions related to this scholarly work.

Most correctional officers adhere to strong organizational norms that emphasize the importance of following rules. Some, however, break the custodial frame and behave inappropriately with inmates. Guided by Robert K. Merton’s social structure and anomie theory, we examined 501 questionnaires collected from correctional officers within the Texas Dep...

The new book, Storming Zion: Government Raids on Religious Communities, authored by Stuart A. Wright and Susan J. Palmer removes common stereotypes about non-traditional religious movements, often pejoratively referred to as “cults.” Recently Robert M. Worley, Book Review Editor of Theory in Action asked the lead author a few questions related to t...

In his book, The Future of Crime and Punishment, criminologist William Kelly provides readers with detailed suggestions as to how policymakers can reduce crime and enhance public safety while simultaneously scaling down criminal justice expenditures. According to Kelly, American taxpayers spend more than $260 billion dollars per year apprehending,

While most correctional officers are professional in their interactions with inmates, some employees cross the line and engage in boundary violations, which potentially put everyone at risk. Using questionnaires collected from 501 correctional officers employed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, this study examined the relationship betwee...

Recently, Joyce Mitchell, a correctional employee in New York, confessed to assisting two dangerous murderers in an elaborate escape attempt. While our study does not focus on correctional officers who admit to such deviant behaviors, it examines correctional officers’ perceptions of boundary violations committed by their co-workers. Using a macro-...

Tasers and stun guns, the preferred non-lethal weapons for police officers, are now employed by the majority of law enforcement agencies in the United States. While officers could be directly liable for gratuitously using the taser or stun gun after a suspect has been subdued, police agencies could be held responsible where faulty or broad policies a...

Recent media reports have attempted to shed light on correctional officers who end their careers in disgrace for either having sexual relationships with prisoners or for smuggling contraband into correctional facilities. In this article, I take an autoethnographic approach, reflecting on my seven years as a “guard-researcher” and demonstrate throug...

While there have been many ethnographies published within the disciplines of criminology and criminal justice, very few studies have examined actual field researchers who have successfully employed this qualitative technique. In this exploratory study, we identified and conducted phone interviews with a sample of eight scholars who have used variat...

While there have been many studies which examine academic stars in criminology and criminal justice (CCJ), only a handful have attempted to analyze female scholars in particular. Past research studies which have attempted to assess the productivity of female scholars often rely on quantitative approaches that provide numerical data, including the t...

This study seeks to ascertain why some correctional officers engage in boundary violations with inmates in spite of the presence of strong organizational cultural norms which discourage familiarity between staff and offenders. Using an alternate version of Blau and Blau’s relative deprivation theory to guide in the interpretation of our analyses, w...

This essay seeks to examine how some staff-inmate inappropriate relationships are able to flourish, in spite of strong, organizational cultural norms which discourage familiarity between staff and offenders.

Lately, it seems as though there is a renewed interest in qualitative research. This may be due, in part, to the fact that many scholars, such as Heith Copes, are publishing fascinating qualitative studies which delve into virtually all areas of the criminal justice system. In this interview, Robert M. Worley asks Heith a few questions about his qu...

At the 2013 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference, Professor Daniel Mears was the recipient of the ACJS Outstanding Book Award. In this interview, Robert M. Worley asks Dan a few questions about winning this prestigious award.

In the 1990s, against the backdrop of an ascending Age of Neoliberalism, sex offender registration statutes were passed in the United States. These laws require law enforcement officials to utilize computer technologies in order to publicly identify individuals who have been convicted of sexual offenses. In this study, we conducted in-depth intervi...

This research note explores the rationale for consistently submitting scholarly manuscripts to and publishing in American Journal of Criminal Justice. By means of structured interviews with nine of the most frequently published authors throughout the history of the journal, this research identifies that AJCJ’s manuscript review process and its read...

At the 2013 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference, Professor Joshua C. Cochran received the William L. Simon/Anderson Publishing Outstanding Paper Award. In this interview, Robert M. Worley asks Joshua a few questions about winning this prestigious award.

In correctional settings, some offenders engage in a specific type of sex offense, namely public autoerotism, an aggressive form of masturbatory behavior designed to harass, antagonize, or unsettle employees. This article examines interview data with male inmates who admitted to intentionally exposing themselves to female correctional employees. Us...

While most correctional officers adhere to the highest level of professionalism, some engage in institutional deviance during the course of their eight-hour shifts. In the present study, we administered 501 self-report questionnaires to correctional officers within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Respondents who reported that their superv...

Tasers and stun guns are conducted energy devises used by the police to subdue criminals. As non-lethal weapons , tasers and stun guns are not supposed to inflict serious injury or permanent harm, but have contributed to death when used on individuals with existing health problems. This paper explores individual police officer civil liability under...

The American Journal of Criminal Justice (AJCJ), the peer-reviewed publication of the Southern Association of Criminal Justice (SCJA), has been in publication for 35 years. SCJA has often been viewed as an approachable association to become involved with for young faculty in criminal justice. In addition, based on the findings of this assessment,...

21st Century Criminology

Although the study of deviance has been prevalent in the criminal justice literature, there is very little discussion as to the types of deviant acts committed by correctional employees. This may be because prisons are what Goffman (196116. Goffman , Erving. 1961 . Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates . Gard...

While there have been many studies that have identified academic stars in criminology and criminal justice, very few attempts have been made to examine these individuals and the characteristics shaping their success. In this exploratory study, the author employed phone interviews with eight of the most productive researchers in the discipline to as...

This paper investigates the role inmate informants play in detecting inappropriate prisoner–guard relationships. Data for this exploratory study were collected as part of a larger project, where the author conducted 32 face-to-face interviews with prisoners who engaged in inappropriate boundary violations with correctional officers. Twelve of these...

While Tasers and stun guns have proven to be effective tools for averting crises, these instruments have frequently resulted in lawsuits. Since the use of electronic energy devices by the police is in its early stages, effective policies to avoid liabilities are still in the making. This article examines cases filed under title 42 U.S.C. Section 19...

Correctional officers are trained to establish a professional distance between themselves and the inmates they are paid to supervise. Nevertheless, some officers allow themselves to be compromised by inmates who are adept at manipulating prison staff. In this study, we employ face‐to‐face interviews with 32 inmate boundary violators in order to exa...

Municipal liability for the inappropriate use of tasers and stun guns.

Worley, R. M. & Worley, V.B. (2010). Deviant behavior, 819-826. In Birx, H.J. (Ed.) SAGE 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

In this book, Professor Edith Linn, a 21-year veteran of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), examines what she refers to as adaptive arrest behavior. According to Linn, this phenomenon occurs whenever police officers rationally calculate both the personal benefits and consequences that are associated with the process of making an arrest. Cu...

In this study, the effect that the sex offender registry has had on female sex offenders in two states is explored. In-depth personal interviews were conducted with nine registered female sex offenders from Illinois and Texas. Questions were asked about the arrest that led to registration and the effect that sex offender registration statutes have...

The majority of current research on inappropriate relationships between correctional staff and inmates involves a qualitative approach. This study sought to provide a quantitative analysis of these boundary violators by self-report data, which was provided by male inmates in a southern prison system. Building upon research by Allen and Bosta (Games...

University of Texas of the Permian Basin Raped by the State, written by former Texas Youth Commission (TYC) employee, Ran-dall Chance, is semi-autobiographical and describes the neglect and mistreatment of juvenile delinquents in the agency's care. Chance, who had a twenty-one-year career with the agency, discusses a subject that is timely and prov...

Some correctional employees end their careers in disgrace by engaging in “inappropriate relationships” with inmates. This study employed face-to-face interviews with thirty-two inmate manipulators who admitted to behaving inappropriately with prison staff members. Based on the interviews, our findings indicate that offenders are very likely to pers...

Much of the current research on female correctional officers examines attitudes of prison staff about the ability of female correctional officers to perform prison job duties. This study seeks to examine male inmate attitudes and perceptions about female correctional officers. This paper specifically addresses male offenders' perceptions of female...

Recently, media accounts have shed light on a number of correctional employees who were terminated for engaging in "inappropriate relationships" with prisoners. This study employed face-to-face interviews of 32 inmate "turners" who were investigated for engaging in inappropriate relationships with security officers. We found that many inmate manipu...