Organizational Climate in Juvenile Correctional Institutions in Israel: A Study on Violence by Educational Instructors towards Inmates during Discipline Encounters

Abstract

The study engages in violence exercised by educational instructors towards inmates in juvenile correctional institutions. It focuses on the impact of the organizational climate on this forceful behavior, while distinguishing the various institutions on a continuum of two key characteristics: institution type (locked, inclusive and communal hostel) and the treated population type (boys, girls and co-eds). The study involves 320 educational instructors who constitute the entire instructor population in all 55 juvenile correctional institutions in Israel. It explores the instructors' intervention style during discipline events according to the model which examines three common styles: power assertion, love withdrawal and induction. The findings illustrate the nature of the therapeutic environments in the different institutions and the implications related to the degree of effectiveness, applying them in the development of these environments.