The Career of a Correctional Officer in the Criminal Justice Field - Research Paper Example

The career of a Correctional Officer in the criminal justice field Customer Inserts His/ Her Name Customer Inserts Name of Tutor Customer Inserts Grade/ Course (September 19, 2015) Introduction The law outlines the rules and regulations that are bound to be followed by every citizen of the nation. Most of the laws are sub-classified into either civil or criminal laws. Criminal law is different from civil law in terms of enforcement and even punishment (Gardner and Anderson, 2012). The criminal justice sector of any nation is that a branch that deals with the criminal laws governing the nation. The criminal justice department is a major and very important arm in all nations. Under the criminal justice sector is the law enforcement department whose main objective is preventing and investigating crimes. Law enforcement officers include professionals such as investigators and uniformed officers for instance police officers and correctional officers among others. The career of a correctional officer is what I would like to pursue after graduation given its dynamism and the key role they play in a nation. The main role of a correctional officer is to keep offenders in correctional facilities after police officers have arrested them. In essence, they make sure that the criminals stay in a healthy and safe environment and are as well rehabilitated before they come out of the facilities. This paper seeks to highlight the competences, challenges, and achievements in the career of a correctional officer under the criminal justice system. Competencies Correctional officers have existed for a long time now and play a key role in the criminal justice system. Without these officers, convicted criminals would not be safely locked in correctional facilities and would instead be loitering in our streets hence increasing crime rates. In addition to this, correctional officers are bestowed with the duty of motivating and rehabilitating criminals and reform them during their stay in the correctional facility. This can only be achieved through good relationship between the two parties while balancing with authority for effective rehab (Miller and Gaines, 2011). With this in mind, it therefore is understood that a correctional officer should possess counselling skills. Most often than not, correctional officers are normally unarmed and are required to have excellent communication skills in order to relate well with the criminals. As it is expected, correctional officers ought to ensure that the inmates follow the rules and regulations with limited compulsion (Singer and La, 2010). As such, correctional officers must exhibit excellent counselling and communication skills to achieve cooperation among the inmates even when imposing penalties and punishments. The other essential skill for a correctional officer is self-defence. Most of the inmates are convicted criminals with all types of criminal offences ranging from theft to murder. Hence, most of the inmates have the ability to kill any person who they come across if not well managed. This self-defence will entail being trained on use of firearms among other trainings of disarming inmates, dealing with prison riots and bringing calm in the facility (Whitehead, J et al., 1987, p. 476). These skills are important in safeguarding the lives of correctional officers whose lives are normally at risk. To refine these skills correctional officers ought to undergo training programs on the same. Professional Interview In order to understand the career and duties of a correctional officer I conducted an interview with one of the correctional officers at Illinois Corrections department. My interview with Mr David Clarke was short and brief given the definite roles of a correctional officer and the fact that I had researched much of the information. It was more of a confirmative interview rather than informative interview. The first comment by my interviewee was that any person working in the criminal justice field had to be an excellent timekeeper, consistent, and firm with the offenders as well as other staff in the correctional facility. He further told me the educational requirement for this post ranged from diploma to degree and even masters in related Security courses. Experience in military trainings is also significant. A typical day of a correctional officer entails inmates control to make sure they perform their routine duties such as cleaning. Security is also important and the correctional officer is expected to go round the facility and see if all security measures are put into place. It is their duty to detect any suspected escape plan or route by the inmates to avoid instances of jailbreak (David Clarke, personal communication, September 25, 2015). When I ask him whether he enjoys his profession, Mr Clarke tells me how he enjoys his profession and that it has been his dream come true. He says that working as a correctional officer you get to meet people from all corners of the world. It is in correctional facilities where you will find great intellectuals who have been convicted. You also get to meet diverse professionals ranging from police officers, court clerks, lawyers, doctors who come to treat the inmates and other professionals in the facility. The best way of dealing with the inmates, he goes on to say is to avoid being judgemental on them but rather working on their health and safety during their stay at the correctional facility (David Clarke, personal communication, September 25, 2015). According to David Clarke, his best training experience as a correctional officer was on staff safety training which entailed trainings on firearms, cuffing and control tactics just to mention a few. He goes on to advise me that to succeed in the criminal justice field one has to be professional at all time and possess a positive attitude when dealing with the inmates (David Clarke, personal communication, September 25, 2015). Our interview ends by him telling me that one can stay in the criminal justice field for the longest time as long as they have a passion for it and do not have any criminal background. Evaluation From the interview discussion, it is evident that the job of a correctional officer is quite involving and risky at the same time despite being interesting at other times. Before one decides to join this profession, they should be aware of the risks and challenges involved especially the fact that you will be dealing with criminals and convicts. Thus, one should be armed with skills and competencies in handling any disruptions that may arise at the correctional facility. As mentioned earlier in the paper, self-defence is an important skill required by a correctional officer, something that was affirmed by my interviewee Mr David Clarke. Correctional officers together with other officers at correctional facilities normally undergo self-defence trainings. In fact, Mr Clarke pointed out that the trainings happened to be one of his best experiences in his profession as a correctional officer. It can also be deduced that positive attitude or excellent communication skills are required in this profession when dealing with the convicts. This is because one of the main roles of a correctional officer is to rehabilitate and counsel the inmates to make them better individuals when they leave the facility. Learning goals Safety is fundamental in the professional life of a correctional officer. Thus, the area of safety is where I would wish to set my learning goals in this career. The safety of a correctional officer is classified into three including personal, team and inmate safety. Personal safety entails making sure that the correctional officer himself or herself is safe with regard to the environment. Hence, it is important to be cognisant with whatever things that are happening in their surroundings (Whitehead, J et al., 1987, p. 480). A correctional officer can risk his or her life in dealing with a dangerous criminal in order to make sure that the criminal does not cause harm to the other people at the facility. Many times, some correctional officers have been identified as heroes in maintaining law and order (Miller and Gaines, 2011). Thus, fast response is a requirement in situations that compromise safety. Secondly, team safety involves all the other staff of the correctional facility from the management to the prison personnel. For instance, a correctional officer can be assigned to man perimeter walls or even control towers for the safety of the entire facility. The safety of the inmates is also paramount and required to be achieved by correctional officers. My main goal is to make sure that I achieve full safety in my line of duty in any place I will be given to work.  Conclusion Just as it is in almost all professions, the career of a correctional officer is facing dynamic changes making it different from the ancient correctional career. Today, with the invention of technology, much has changed in this profession. For example, correctional officers nowadays use sensors to detect the movement of inmates within the facility. In addition, their scope of work has also changed. For instance, the role of a correctional officer is very diverse and does not only end at the correctional facility. In some instances, they will be required to accompany released inmates to the oust side society to help them recover and adjust to the society. In the near future, more changes are expected since even the convicts are becoming more technocratic in their ways of organizing jailbreaks among other disruptions at the correctional facilities. Reference List Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2012). Criminal law. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Miller, R. L. R., & Gaines, L. K. (2011). Criminal justice in action: The core. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth. Singer, R. G., & La, F. J. Q. (2010). Criminal law: Examples and explanations. New York: Aspen Publishers. Tracy, S. J. (2004). The construction of correctional officers: Layers of emotionality behind bars. Qualitative Inquiry, 10, 509–533. Whitehead, J et al. (1987). Correctional Officer professional orientation, Criminal Justice and Behaviour, 14, 468-486. Read More