Educational Instructors’ Attitudes Toward Juvenile Inmates: The Effect of the Inmate’s Role in a Criminal Event and the Instructors’ Belief in a Just World

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine factors that affect educational instructors’ attitudes toward juvenile inmates in corrective educational facilities. Educational instructors play an important role in the rehabilitation of juvenile inmates, and their attitudes may affect the adolescents’ chances of rehabilitation. We adopted an ecological perspective and explored the relationship between instructors’ belief in a just world (BJW) and the role of inmates in a criminal event (offender/victim). The study included 196 educational instructors. They answered a questionnaire on their background, BJW levels, and attitudes toward juvenile inmates. Results show that educational instructors perceived “victim” inmates as significantly more delinquent and less treatable than “offender” inmates, and that a BJW affected attitudes toward juvenile inmates. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed in this article.