Date

8-20-2026

Department

Helms School of Government

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice (PhD)

Chair

Patrick Webb

Keywords

General Strain Theory, compassion fatigue, intersectionality, official behavior

Disciplines

Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Applying the theoretical framework of Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory, this project aimed to understand the connection between strain-induced responses and improper official behavior, considering an individual’s intersectionality (sexuality). Despite extant empirical data recognizing that justice officials' duties expose them to a barrage of human misery, vicarious trauma, and intense circumstances that negatively impact their psyche, little research exists about how compassion fatigue relates to improper official conduct. When culturally induced expectations become divorced from an official despite a coordinated institutional emphasis, negative police responses can jeopardize public service. Because criminal justice officials are the backbone of public safety, it is vital to understand how chronic and cumulative stress, considering officer intersectionality, impacts negative official behavior to find a remedy. This quantitative and correlational study used data captured through an exhaustive self-completed survey distributed through Qualtrics from a pool of currently active criminal justice officials (n=132) from the western United States. The participants were purposefully chosen from a geographical area facing a continual rise in police-related shootings in the last ten years. The officials served from 1-30 years of experience and were assigned various department roles responsible for public safety in a vast, mainly rural setting. The surveys incorporated the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) and self-reported conduct questionnaires, which were assessed using regression analysis and one-way ANOVA through IBM SPSS software. The results of this study disclose a need for continual research and aggressive individual and criminal justice organizational strategies in prevention, intervention, and well-being maintenance to counter chronic stress responses.

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