Prison Workers' Perception of Self-legitimacy, Relations, and Professional Competencies

Rok Hacin, Ph.D., is an associate professor of criminology at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Slovenia. In 2018, he finished his doctoral dissertation entitled "Comparison of Self-legitimacy of the Prison Staff and Prisoner's Perceptions of Prison Staff Legitimacy". His bibliography comprises more than 240 works, including 40 scientific articles, 3 scientific monographs, and 12 chapters in scientific monographs. Works in the field of legitimacy/self-legitimacy have been published in prestigious international scientific journals (Criminal Justice and Behavior, Policing, European Journal of Criminology, The Prison Journal, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology) and the scientific monograph “The Dual Nature of Legitimacy in the Prison Environment: An Inquiry in Slovenian Prisons” (Springer Briefs in Criminology). In 2022-2023, he led a project entitled "Research in the field of professional competencies of prison workers and relations in prisons" financed by the Slovenian Prison Administration. In 2020, he received the ESC Young Criminologist Award for his article "Prisoners' Perceptions of Legitimacy of Prison Staff in Slovenia".Gorazd Meško, Ph.D., is a professor of criminology at the Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor, Slovenia. His bibliography comprises more than 1,930 works, including 214 scientific articles, 17 scientific monographs, and 87 chapters in scientific monographs. Works in the field of legitimacy/self-legitimacy have been published in prestigious international scientific journals (European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, Psychology, Crime & Law, Crime and Delinquency, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Policing, European Journal of Criminology, The Prison Journal, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology). He is a co-author of the scientific monograph “The Dual Nature of Legitimacy in the Prison Environment: An Inquiry in Slovenian Prisons” (Springer Briefs in Criminology), and editor of the book “Trust and Legitimacy in Criminal Justice: European Perspectives” (Springer). He led numerous projects including “Legitimacy and Legality of Policing, Criminal Justice and Execution of Penal Sanctions” (2013-2016) financed by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency and “Presentation of the Results of the Research on the Professional Competencies and Self-Legitimacy of the Prison Staff and the Implementation of Focused Group Interviews in Prison Institutions” (2023) financed by the Slovenian Prison Administration. He is a recipient of the Freda Adler Distinguished Scholar Award (2022) and the Gerhard O.W. Mueller Award (2024).

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Prison Workers’ Competencies.- 3. Self-legitimacy and Its Antecedents.- 4. Methodology.- 5. Results.- 6. Discussion and Conclusion.