Potential Job Burnout with the Criminal Justice System Employment1
Potential Job Burnout with Criminal Justice System Employment
Introduction
There are many jobs that are available in the criminal justice system. Some of these jobs include court staff, court reporters or stenographers, district attorneys, public defenders, lawyers, judges, justices of the peace, management positions and executive levels of criminal justice system staff that would higher up with the Ministry of Attorney General offices. The specific job that I am going to discuss for this paper is the stenographers that work in the court. I will discuss the sources of motivation for being a stenographer and what characteristics of the job may lead to dissatisfaction or burnout. I will also suggest how I would redesign the job to emphasize the first set of characteristics and deemphasize the others. I will also discuss if I think others would agree, or are there important individual differences to take into account. First, I will begin with the sources of motivation for being a stenographer and what characteristics of the job may lead to dissatisfaction or burnout.
Motivation and Burnout
The sources of motivation for being a stenographer, which is the job of the note taker that records and types the notes of the proceedings of a criminal court session(s) is the inspiration of making a difference in the justice system. The careful and detailed notes that a stenographer makes are vital to the proceedings of the court and the proper administration of justice. For example, if there are any discrepancies of facts and/or details of a court proceeding, the notes that the stenographer takes can be reviewed and replayed even within the court session to ensure that a fair trial and/or bail hearing is being brought forth. The responsibilities of a stenographer are tremendous and it is an honorable duty and task to have.
The characteristics of the job that can lead to burnout are that the information that is contained during the majority of criminal cases is not pleasant. A stenographer must listen to negative information, violent situations and be surrounded in a court environment that consists of criminally at-fault (sometimes innocent) people. This environment is not conducive to “happy” feelings and/or “happy” times always felt by the stenographer. Due to the daily nature of the work, a stenographer can start to lose sight of the more positive elements of life and begin to think that everyone around them is a criminal. This is the environment that they exist in day in and day out. Characteristics of the job such as these particular latter points can easily lead to job dissatisfaction and/or job burnout. Next, I will discuss how I would redesign the job in order to prevent this potential occurrence amongst stenographers.
Redesigning the Job
Stenographers are law-abiding people and this is why they have received the privilege of working in the court system. In future, with the help technology, a stenographer should be able to reach higher levels of government security clearances in order to do their work from the comfort of their home. In their home environment, where they can listen to the court proceedings from a special computer and dispatch their recordings and notes to the Attorney General’s office would be the most ideal situation for a stenographer to have in order to prevent from being around as negative of an environment as a criminal courthouse. Next I will discuss individual differences to the job.
Individual Differences
Some of the individual differences of being a stenographer and/or working in any field in the criminal justice system are that a large proportion of those people convicted of crimes are of color and this is due to the prejudicial nature and more racist tendency of the criminal justice system. Due to this, anyone who would do a stenographer job and/or work in any field in the criminal justice system may feel particularly sensitive in a criminal courthouse situation, particularly if their own personal encounters with people of color are the opposite to the profile of a criminal. Yes, I do think that many people would agree.
Conclusion
There are many jobs that are available in the criminal justice system. Some of these jobs include court staff, court reporters or stenographers, district attorneys, public defenders, lawyers, judges, justices of the peace, management positions and executive levels of criminal justice system staff that would higher up with the Ministry of Attorney General offices. The specific job that I discussed for this paper is the stenographers that work in the court. I discussed the sources of motivation for being a stenographer and what characteristics of the job may lead to dissatisfaction or burnout. I also suggested how I would redesign the job to emphasize the first set of characteristics and deemphasize the others. I also discussed if I think others would agree, or are there important individual differences to take into account.