Types of Misconduct

This article discusses the various types of misconduct that correctional professionals engage in, including accepting gratuity, mistreatment of inmates, arbitrary use of power, miscellaneous abuses, and abusing authority for personal gain.

Running Head: TYPES OF MISCONDUCT 1
Types of Misconduct
Student’s Name
University Affiliation

TYPES OF MISCONDUCT 2
Misconduct refers to ill behaviours that are not acceptable in the community.
Professionals in most cases behave improperly by engaging themselves in activities that
contravene morals and the law of the society (Dirkzwager, & Kruttschnitt, 2012). Correctional
professionals are expected to maintain the laws but most of them disregard that policy by
willingly committing misconducts, the following are some of the misconducts that correction
professionals are mostly engaged in:
Accepting gratuity for special consideration- lack of ethical values by correctional
officers is one of the primary reason why they engage in illegal deals of accepting bribes in
favour of someone. Such basic values include honesty, integrity, faithful and ethics, therefore,
organizations should consider the moral behaviours of individuals who they wish to employ
(Dirkzwager, & Kruttschnitt, 2012). Appropriate staff are those who are capable of maintaining
their values regardless of the temptations they might come across.
Mistreatment/ harassment or extortion of inmates- prisons are meant to be a rehabilitation
centre but the correctional officers are using them as a chance to harass the inmates. The officers
are sometimes very strict abusing the rights of the inmates to an extent that the inmate might end
up dying (Matetoa, 2013). Therefore, prisons are viewed as awful and meant to be dehumanizing
and isolating. Poor conditions of living in the cells have been experienced whereby most of the
inmates are infected with dangerous diseases which kills them even due to lack or poor medical
facilities. This is as a result of correctional officer’s ignorance.
Arbitrary use of power- correctional professionals are trusted in the maintenance of
justice among citizens but they tend to be worse since in most cases they made decisions in
favour of one party for their own personal gain. They receive bribes and other gifts from the
party involved so that they make a judgement in their favour. This is as a result of greedy for
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TYPES OF MISCONDUCT 3
wealth thereby undermining justice in the states. The correctional department should first
analyze their staff’s ability to avoid such temptations before hiring, if there is need of training the
department, should act accordingly to ensure its performances are valued and respected in the
society (Lombardo, 2016).
Miscellaneous abuses- correctional officials are highly involved in minor conducts that
violates their professional conducts. Lack of diligence, improper keeping and maintaining their
client’s records and competence interfere with their performances in the community.
Competence and diligence are very vital to a correctional professional for efficient and effective
representation of their clients. Poor record keeping is a misconduct that brings inefficiency to the
performances of community correctional officers (Gunnison, & Helfgott, 2011).
Abusing authority for personal gain- correctional professionals sometimes use their
authority for their own personal gain. They are involved in corrupt deals to favour one party
against the other with an aim of receiving something in return. Correctional professionals are
highly respected in the community making them use that as an opportunity to ask bribes among
the community members (Gunnison, & Helfgott, 2011).
In conclusion, the correctional department should be keen before hiring people to work in
their offices. Moral values are vital among correctional professionals therefore; they should be
considered highly. Most of this misconducts are as a result of immoral values among the
correctional officials. The department should evaluate the morals of their officials to ensure that
they are equipped with appropriate values that will help them to cope up with the circumstances
arising.
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References
Dirkzwager, A. J., & Kruttschnitt, C. (2012). Prisoners’ perceptions of correctional
officers’ behaviour in English and Dutch prisons. Journal of Criminal
Justice, 40(5), 404-412.
Gunnison, E., & Helfgott, J. B. (2011). Factors that hinder offender reentry success: A
view from community corrections officers. International Journal of Offender
Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 55(2), 287-304.
Lombardo, L. X. (2016). Routledge Revivals: Guards Imprisoned (1989): Correctional
Officers at Work. Routledge.
Matetoa, J. M. (2013). The professional role of the correctional officer in the
rehabilitation of offenders (Doctoral dissertation).
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