Aggression- prison aggression Flashcards
What did Irwin and Cressy come up with?
The importtation model
What is the importation model?
Prisoners import their aggressive tendencies into prison with them- which explains why the violence rate is so high
What sources do aggressive characteristics come from? What do these explain?
-Genetics
-Hormones
-Background
-Prison aggression is no different to how offenders act in their home environment
Name a factor that can exacerbate aggressive behaviour both inside and outside of prison
Drug dependency/addiction
Why are young offenders institutions the most aggressive age group?
Gang cultures
Give some features of a criminal/thief subculture
-Advocates a criminal “code of honour” (not telling on other inmates’ misdemeanours)
-Promotes honour, trust and loyalty as its key values
-Members include hardened criminals, repeat offenders
-Aggression within the group but not as dominant as other subcultures
Give some features of the conflict subculture
-Strong power heirarchy
-Most likely to become aggresive as this is deemed neccascary to excercise power over other inmates
-Prisoners who join this group are often depreived areas outside of prison and are familiar with gang culture
Give some features of the conventional/straight subculture
-New to prison, likely to be one time offenders
-Keep clear of other subcultures
-Not generally aggressive
-Have more in common with prison guards
What do allender + Marcell argue?
Gang members disproportionally engage in acts of prison violence
What explanation is the importation model?
The importation model
Give an evaluation point for the dispositional explanation
-Support for the importation model originated from gang culture
-Delisi
-Foudn that family background/upbringing was a strong influence on dispositional aggression and rule-breaking within the prison
-Found a significant relationship between gang membership values imported by gang members
-Further supported by the prison inspectors’ report of violence in Feltham young offenders institution
-They witnessed gang graffiti throughout inmates’ cells suggesting few immigrants were not gang members
Give an evaluation point for the dispositional explanation
-However, the influence of gang culture does not explain aggression in adult prisons as well
-Poole + regolis (1983) study found that pre institutional violence is the best indicator of inmate agggression in juvinelie correctional instutions
-These findings were not found in adult prisons + other studys and therefore cant be generealised to explain agggression
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What is the situational explanation?
-The deprivation model
Explain the deprivation model.
-Clemmer
-Places the cause of institutional aggression within the prison environment itself
-Harsh prison conditions are stressful for inmates who have to cope by resorting to aggression and often violent behaviour
What are the 5 deprivations?
-Deprivation of liberty
-Deprivation of autonomy
-Deprivation of goods and services
-Deprivation of heterosexual relationships
-Deprivation of security
Describe deprivation of liberty
-Seen as the purpose of prison by some
The purpose of the sentence is that they are no longer allowed to go where/when they please
-Sykes argued that this reinforces the feeling of rejection from society so offenders become more likely to be antagonistic + aggressive
Describe deprivation of autonomy
-No independence for prisoners
-Expected to conform
-No control/choice over their days
-Inmates have feelings of hopelessness which can lead to frustration + aggression
-Often withdrawal of privelleges which can sometimes be unexplained which leads them feeling angry + powerless
Describe deprivation of goods + services
-Acess to goods is severly restricted
-Example = phones
-causes anger+ resentment which leads to violence
Describe deprivation of hetrosexual relationships
-Heterosexual prisoner has no acess to companianship which leads to frustration then aggression
-Ability to form relationships + experience emotional initimacy is withdrawn
Describe deprivation of security
-Prison enviroment does not feel safe so people fear for personal safety
-Increased awareness of this resulting in increased defensiveness
-Makes overeactions to incidents more likely
Give an evaluation point for the situational explanation: (Maslows hierarchy of needs)
-Maslows hierarchy of needs supports the idea that the situation (prison enviroment) can lead to aggression
-1st step on maslows hierarchy of needs= physiological needs
-Cannot be met all the time due to strict sleeping + eating regeimes and lack of oppotunity for sex
-Saftey needs are also not met due to the lack of perceived safety within prison
-Means that drive for self actualisation is prevented at the basic level so leads to negative behaviour
Give an evaluation point for situational explanation (inconsistent evidence)
-Inconsistent evidence of prison riots which can both support and refute the model
-They can occur where there has been a lack of explanation as to why daily routine has changed/withdrawal of privileges
-Can also flare up for no apparent reason
-This means that the situational influence in violent behaviour cannot always be identified/ may not exist
