Procedural Justice in Jails

Jails in America house a significant portion of our country’s incarcerated population in dynamic social and operating environments. Jails are significantly different from prisons, and the challenges to conducting research in jail environments have hindered opportunities to develop an evidence base regarding jail operations, jail culture and climate, and a variety of topics relating to jail staff and residents. Procedural justice training has been shown to have a positive impact on perceptions of legitimacy in a number of justice system settings (police, courts, community corrections, prison) but has not been studied in jails. We propose an experiment in which we develop a training specifically for jail officers on procedural justice concepts and approaches, implement the training for jail officers in two waves, and evaluate the impact of that training on jail climate. We believe that procedural justice training for jail officers will impact officer attitudes and behaviors toward residents which will impact jail climate overall. This study will address major gaps in knowledge about jails and contribute to increased knowledge about procedural justice in the criminal justice system. CA/NCF