Assignment:
Have you ever heard the adage "When in Rome do as the Romans do"? Essentially, this means that you should follow the customs and rules in a particular place or setting even if you are not familiar with these customs and rules. If you were a new recruit in a criminal justice organization, the adage might also apply to you. The formal training you receive to "do your job" is likely to be accompanied by a set of unwritten and informal rules. You would need to be aware of both the written and unwritten rules to determine how to behave. You also would need to learn how politics and political processes play out in the organization to avoid any missteps or blunders. This week, you will consider the socialization of criminal justice professionals. Then, you will examine how politics and the political process play out and influence criminal justice organizations.
Organizational culture consists of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs. Each member of an organization is socialized to become accustomed to and behave in accordance with its culture. In criminal justice organizations, socialization may occur both formally and informally. For instance, police academy recruits may learn the chain of command through formal training but may learn how to communicate with witnesses through an implicit or informal process.
Socialization may elicit positive or negative behaviors among criminal justice professionals. For example, police officers may be socialized to provide superior protection for particular groups over others, or they may be socialized to bend rules or take shortcuts in certain situations. Given the impact of socialization on the behavior of criminal justice professionals, managers and administrators must ensure the socialization process is positive and supports the goals and values of the organization; otherwise, aberrant (deviant) behaviors are likely to dominate an organization's culture and weaken its integrity.
Review the article "The Asshole." Focus on the formal and informal types of socialization that occur in police organizations.
Reflect on the socialization process, and consider its impact on the behavior of criminal justice professionals. Think about the ways managers and leaders in criminal justice can positively affect the socialization process.
Select a professional criminal justice role (e.g., correctional officer, police officer, warden, sheriff, judge, prosecutor, etc.) to use for this Discussion. Think about how individuals in the role you selected are socialized. Consider how criminal justice managers and administrators might positively affect the socialization process.
Article:
Van Maanen, J. (1978). The asshole. In Policing: A view from the street (pp. 307-328). Goodyear Publishing.
· Haney, C. (2008). A culture of harm: Taming the dynamics of cruelty in supermax prisons. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 956 - 984.