Emotional labour in the Scottish criminal justice system: an IPA study of operational staff experiences

Operational staff in the Scottish criminal justice system are expected to portray neutrality, despite regular exposure to emotional and potentially traumatising criminal evidence. The study utilised interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experience of six operational staff in professionally neutral roles, namely clerks of court and macers, to explore resilience and emotion regulation. Six Group Experiential Themes (GETs) emerged: (1) emotional regulation through grounding, detachment and selective attention; (2) preserving neutrality is an active and complex process; (3) inner conflicts between human authenticity and professional expectations; (4) shared understanding and strong trusted working relationships are central to resilience; (5) emotional demands without emotionally supportive infrastructure; and (6) the criminal court environment and dynamics are ever-changing and impactful. The participants reported employing several strategies to maintain neutrality such as disengagement and cognitive reappraisal. Several facilitators and inhibitors of their resilience were identified. Potential implications discussed within.