Police use of force has become a topic of national discussion, particularly in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Currently, the focus seems to be on individual officers and their individual attitudes and beliefs. Given that use of force is an individual decision it is intuitive to think that an officer's decision to use force would be impacted by his or her attitudes and beliefs. This reasoning ignores the larger social and organizational contexts within which police officers are situated. Specifically, an officer's peer culture and department may exert control over his or her attitudes and behaviors regarding use of force. The purpose of the current study is to determine whether these larger social contexts impact an individual's perceptions regarding use of force. Using data from a nationally representative survey sample, the study finds that individual attitudes significantly predict officers' willingness to report another officer's excessive use of force. However, this relationship weakens when including measures of peer culture and departmental influence. These findings suggest that perceptions of use of force are influenced by more than just individual attitudes towards use of force. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Corrections has a rich history centered around rehabilitation and its obtainability, and has seen the pendulum swing back and forth between rehabilitative and punitive policies. Currently, there is an emphasis on evidence-based practices which provides a unique opportunity to assess gaps in the rehabilitation literature as a means to ensure that rehabilitative-oriented policies are part of the forefront of corrections. One notable gap in the corrections and rehabilitation literature is that research has not assessed what influences meaningful participation in rehabilitative programming during incarceration. Past research has acknowledged that there is an inmate code, characterized heavily by hypermasculinity, that negatively influences behavior during incarceration, yet research has not examined whether this code influences engagement in rehabilitative programming. The current study seeks to address this gap by examining the inmate code, specifically hypermasculinity, as a barrier to rehabilitation during incarceration through in-depth interviews with five incarcerated individuals from a large Southwestern correctional facility. Findings, limitations, and future research suggestions are discussed.