Perception of Correctional Officers’ Legitimacy in South African Correctional Centers

Abstract

Studies from developed western societies have shown that the legitimacy of correctional officers is pivotal to incarcerated offenders’ voluntary compliance and deference. However, we are uncertain if such an assertion holds for incarcerated offenders in transitional African correctional settings, such as South Africa. From a cross-sectional survey of participants from selected correctional centers in South Africa (Male = 89.6%; African = 85.1%; M age = 25 years, SD = 0.81), this paper explores incarcerated offenders’ perception of the legitimacy of correctional officers. Findings indicate that procedural justice, the effectiveness of the correctional officers, gender, and offender citizenship predicted the perception of correctional officers’ legitimacy. The implications of these findings for the effective management of custodial institutions are discussed.