From prison guards to… what? : Occupational development of prison officers in Sweden and Norway

• Prison officers are a key group of civil servants in the criminal justice system. Based on a comparative study of the systems for vocationaleducation in Sweden and Norway, this article compares policies andstrategies for developing the prison officer occupation. Differencesin this domain are analysed against the backdrop of theories aboutprofessionalization and growing differences between these countriesconcerning the ends and means of prison policy in general. Datacome from interviews and documents collected in 2013–2014, aswell as a rereading of data from two earlier prison-research projects.Results show that Norway is adopting a strategy quite similar to theone behind the birth of the so-called welfare professions duringthe heyday of the social-democratic welfare state. In Sweden, thecontinuing division of labour is leading to enhanced skills amongsome specialized subgroups, such as security and programme staff,but a reduction in qualifications for the majority. The study should beof interest in relation to different strategies for developing the workof prison officers as well as of other categories of public servants.It points to growing differences between two welfare regimes thatused to be quite similar, not least concerning the prison policy field.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Prison officers; prison policy;Nordic exceptionalism;professionalization;occupations occupational roles

Sociologi

Sociology

Kriminologi

Criminology

Social Work

Socialt arbete

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)