The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) was designed to eliminate from corrections systems all acts of sexual violence. PREA’s success will be determined by whether corrections staff and incarcerated persons support this law, understand its legal elements, and are enforcing it according to it’s original intentions. To date, few studies have examined whether members of both populations do indeed support PREA, and whether they are enforcing it correctly. To explore these issues, questionnaire data were collected from corrections staff (N = 222) and incarcerated persons (N = 490) housed in three medium-level security prisons located in the southeastern United States. While both groups expressed personal support for PREA, neither perceived the other as supportive of this law. Moreover, while an overwhelming majority of each sample responded correctly to questions about PREA, there were some incorrect answers too, specifically with regard to mandatory reporting procedures. Policy implications are discussed.
AlfordR. R.FriedlandR. (1985). Powers of theory: Capitalism, the state, and democracy. Cambridge University Press.
2.
AllenK. T.MeadowsE. A. (2017). The use of vignettes to empower effective responses to attempted sexual assault. Journal of American College Health, 65, 250–258.
3.
ArklesG. (2014). Prison Rape Elimination Act litigation and the perpetuation of sexual harm. N.Y.U. Journal of Legislation & Public Policy, 17, 801–834.
4.
BuehlerE. D. (2021). Sexual victimization reported by adult correctional authorities, 2016-2018 (Special Report NCJ 255356). Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
5.
ClarkE. D. (1998). “After the majority shall you incline”: Democratic theory and voting rights in Jewish law. The Torah U-Madda Journal, 8, 97–133.
6.
ClemC.AsbridgeC. (2013). New toolkits help jails and juvenile agencies manage their PREA implementation. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
7.
DavisA. J. (1968). Sexual assaults in the Philadelphia prison system and Sheriff’s vans. In Scacco, Jr.A. M. (Ed.), Male rape: A casebook of sexual aggressions (pp. 107–120). AMS Press.
8.
DillmanD. A.SmythJ. D.ChristianL. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method. John Wiley.
9.
FerdikF.SmithH. P. (2015). Maximum security correctional officers: An exploratory investigation into their social bases of power. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 41, 25–47.
10.
FinnP. (2000). Addressing correctional officer stress: Programs and strategies. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
11.
GaesG.GoldbergA. L. (2004). Prison rape: A critical review of the literature. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
12.
HaggertyK. D.BuceriusS. M. (2020). Picking battles: Correctional officers, rules, and discretion in prisons. Criminology, 59(1), 137–157.
13.
Human Rights Watch. (2001). No escape: Male rape in U.S. prisons.
14.
JennessV.SmythM. (2011). The passage and implementation of the prison rape elimination act: Legal endogeneity and the uncertain road from symbolic law to instrumental effects. Stanford Law & Policy Review, 22, 489–528.
15.
KolindT. (2015). Drugs and discretionary power in prisons: The officer’s perspective. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26(9), 799–807.
16.
LipskyM. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services. Russell Sage Foundation.
17.
LockwoodD. (1980). Prison sexual violence. Elsevier.
18.
MeyersM. K.VorsangerS.PetersB. G.PierreJ. (2007). Street-level bureaucrats and the implementation of public policy. In PetersB. G.PierreJ. (Eds.), The handbook of public administration (Vol. 3, pp. 153–163). SAGE.
RatkalkarM.Atkin-PlunkC. A. (2020). Can I ask for help? The relationship among incarcerated males’ sexual orientation, sexual abuse history, and perceptions of rape in prison. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35, 4117–4140.
21.
RossM. W.DiamondP. M.LieblingA.SaylorW. G. (2008). Measurement of prison social climate: A comparison of an inmate measure in England and the USA. Punishment & Society, 10, 447–474.
22.
RudesD. S.MagnusonS.PortilloS.HatteryA. (2020). Sex logics: Negotiating the prison rape elimination act (PREA) against its’ administrative, safety, and cultural burdens. Punishment & Society, 23, 241–259.
23.
SmithH. P. (2020a). Correctional officer and inmate perceptions of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA): A thematic analysis. Journal of Crime and Justice, 44, 213–225.
24.
SmithH. P. (2020b). Evaluating the implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA): A “lessons learned” approach. Evaluation and Program Planning, 83, 101855.
Struckman-JohnsonC.Struckman-JohnsonD. (2006). A comparison of sexual coercion experiences reported by men and women in prison. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 1591–1615.
27.
Struckman-JohnsonC.Struckman-JohnsonD.RuckerL.BumbyK.DonaldsonS. (1996). Sexual coercion reported by men and women in prison. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 67–76.
28.
TetlockP. E. (1985). Accountability: A social check on the fundamental attribution error. Social Psychology Quarterly, 48, 227–236.
29.
TewksburyR. (2021). The prison rape elimination act of 2003. In BarnesJ. C.FordeD. R. (Eds.), The encyclopedia of research methods in criminology and criminal justice (1st ed., pp. 814–817). John Wiley.
30.
WolffN.BlitzC. L.ShiJ.BachmanR.SiegelJ. A. (2006). Sexual violence inside prisons: Rates of victimization. Journal of Urban Health, 83, 835–848.
