Attitudes of employees toward offenders sentenced to community service

Abstract

Whether alternative penalties served by offenders in the community will be successful can also largely depend on the general attitudes in the workplace where the offender will be serving his penalty. This study, conducted in Belgrade, Serbia, was aimed to determine the inclination and factor structure of attitudes towards offenders and ex-offenders, and their correlation with the respondents' age and education. The sample consisted of men from the general population (N=78), employed in companies where offenders serve community sentence. The study also considers the association between attitudes and the age and education of the respondents. The Scale for Attitudes toward Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners was used in the study. Research results showed that the respondents in general had positive attitude toward offenders. On the Scale of Attitudes, a statement "I would socialize with a person who is on parole from prison" had the highest frequency, with which 44.90% of respondents "mostly agree" (MOD=4). With most negatively formulated statements, the frequency of statements "I strongly agree" is low, ranging from 7,70% to 15.60%. Factor analysis of the attitude scale indicated three respectable factors which were named: Rejection, Trust, and Perception of Penalty. The correlation between the demographic variables of age and education, and the expressed attitudes shows there was no significant correlation (p=0.93; p=0.86). The findings of the study have an important impact on practical psychosocial issues, such as that of preparing the community to accept offenders serving alternative punishments, as well as theoretical questions regarding the understanding of the structure, cause, origin, function, and form of attitudes toward offenders.