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Prison Staff Misconduct

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PRISON STAFF MISCONDUCT
Payton Geeting
May 4, 2015

Through the correctional system there are many positive and negative aspects within criminal justice. The focus of this paper will be on how violence within the walls of prisons has gotten out of hand, especially in the hands of the officers behind the badge. There have been lots cases where police officers misuse their power and authority, some more extreme than others. The power given to police officers, correctional officers, and even people in authoritative positions, gives them the impression that they can do what they please because they are above the law. This happens way too often and can cause a lot of issues within the justice system.
A psychology professor from Yale University, Stanley Milgram conducted a study that demonstrated the power that is given to a person and how they decide to use it (Gross, 22). The study that was conducted by Milgram involved participants placed randomly in two groups of “teachers” and “learners”. Participants were told the experiment was studying memory, but the study was actually proving that violent behavior is an ordinary occurrence in human behavior.
Participants in the “teacher” group were given the power of sending an electric shock to the “learners” who were answering questions to do with memory (Gross, 22). This study was falsely given because there was actually no electric shock sent to the “learners”. The experimenters would play a recording of shouts simulating pain of receiving shocks due to answering memory questions wrong. One example in the experiment that proved the theory of having violent behavior was when a “learner” explained that they had a heart problem and they did not want to proceed with the experiment. When this happened the experimenter told the “teacher” to press the button because they would not learn if they did not receive the

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