Effect of Agency Scandal on Public Views Toward the Correctional System

Evidence of a corrections agency scandal involving corruption can be expected to diminish public perceptions of agency effectiveness, especially in an era in which government accountability has featured prominently in national and state criminal justice policy discourse. However, relatively little scholarly attention has studied this idea. Using 2006 public opinion survey data collected prior to and after the highly publicized resignation of a corrections department director who was investigated for and subsequently convicted of graft and mismanagement, this study examines whether a prominent corrections agency scandal exerted an appreciable effect on how the public viewed the agency’s performance. Study findings suggest that the scandal had no effect on the public’s perception of the department’s performance. Implications of the study for research and policy are discussed.