This paper examines criminal violations committed by police and correctional officers, framing them within the broader concept of deviance in criminal justice work. It distinguishes between procedural, civil, and criminal violations while surveying the most prevalent forms of misconduct — including perjury, brutality, sexual violence, and profanity. The paper explores the environmental and individual factors that contribute to these violations, noting the role of limited supervision and the demanding nature of law enforcement and correctional work. It concludes by outlining major efforts undertaken to address police and correctional misconduct, such as external oversight, improved recruitment and training, and enhanced accountability measures.
The work of law enforcement and correctional officers revolves around a slippery slope — the likelihood of a slow worsening of social and moral inhibitions and a shifting perception of what constitutes permissible conduct. Generally, law enforcement and police officers are mandated with the task of maintaining law and order in society by dealing with crime and criminals. Correctional officers, on the other hand, assist in the incarceration and rehabilitation of convicted criminals as those individuals serve their sentences.
As a result, both law enforcement and correctional officers are expected to carry out their work with extreme professionalism and without any deviant conduct. While the general public holds enormous expectations of these professionals, it tends to overlook the inherently difficult nature of the work. Criminal justice work involves dealing with situations that routinely fall below ordinary comfort levels. The nature of this work has contributed to the emergence of the concept of correctional deviance, which encompasses all activities that are inconsistent with the regulations, values, and ethics of criminal justice practice.
Criminal violations committed by police or correctional officers can be broadly defined as deviance — a term that is considerably broader than corruption (Barnhart, 2010). Deviance in criminal justice work refers to all criminal violations carried out by law enforcement and correctional officers, encompassing all activities that are not in accordance with the laws, ethics, and values governing the criminal justice field. These behaviors are inconsistent with applicable standards not only within criminal justice, but also from broader societal and professional perspectives.
In recent years, criminal violations by these officers have often been explained through the concepts of police misconduct and corruption, which are primarily abuses of police authority. While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they are applied to criminal, civil, and procedural violations. The term police misconduct is the broadest category, encompassing all three types. Procedural violations occur when officers violate the internal rules and regulations of their police department or correctional facility. Civil violations take place when officers violate state or federal laws with respect to citizens' civil rights, meaning their actions are unconstitutional. Criminal violations, by contrast, involve practices that breach state or federal laws without necessarily infringing upon an individual's civil rights.
Generally, the most common forms of police and correctional officer misconduct involve the use of excessive force, physical or verbal abuse, discrimination, and selective application of the law.
Police misconduct and deviance occur in several ways, depending on the situation and the particular officer involved. The past few decades have seen substantial reform efforts within the criminal justice and law enforcement field. One example is the move by many police departments and correctional facilities to screen out candidates with minimal ethical standards during hiring. Even though these efforts have yielded some positive results, unethical practices and criminal violations continue to take place in both small and large departments and facilities (Martin, 2011). Some of the most common types of criminal violations committed by police and correctional officers are described below.
Perjury is primarily described as a means to influence a criminal proceeding by omitting pertinent information in order to affect the probable outcome of a prosecution. This type of criminal violation sometimes involves dropsy evidence — the provision of false testimony by a police officer claiming to have witnessed a suspect drop contraband or narcotics. In most cases, perjury occurs in the form of lies in incident summaries or reports, which in turn contributes to the slippery slope of criminality. This violation tends to be committed by law enforcement officers who believe that a guilty defendant is likely to escape punishment unless they misrepresent the facts. One of the most troubling aspects of this violation is that other participants in the criminal justice system are often aware that it is occurring.
Brutality is a criminal violation committed by correctional officers that involves the use of excessive force, disrespect, ridicule, or any breach of due process. This type of misconduct often occurs alongside correctional perjury, since officers who commit it are likely to lie afterward to avoid departmental discipline or civil lawsuits. Brutality may arise from the ready opportunity to physically abuse and harm inmates, or from an officer being provoked beyond the limits of self-control.
Sexual violence is a criminal violation that can be committed by law enforcement officers in the line of duty ("Worse Than the Disease," n.d.). In recent years, numerous incidents involving rectal violations and other forms of sexual misconduct by police officers have been reported. This violation is also committed by correctional officers who become inappropriately attracted to incarcerated male or female inmates. The likelihood of sexual violence being carried out by police and correctional officers is largely attributed to insufficient supervision while these officers perform their duties.
"Perjury, brutality, sexual violence, and profanity explained"
"Oversight, training, and accountability as remedies"
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