Insitutional Aggression in Prison Flashcards
What theoretical stances have arisen to account for institutional aggression?
- Dispositional explanations > locate causes of aggressive behaviour within the individual (personality)
- Situational explanations > attribute responsibility for aggression to factors within the prison environment
What is the dispositional theory of institutional aggression and who proposed it?
The importation model
Irwin & Cressey
What does the importation model argue?
- suggests that aggression is caused by individual differences rather than the prison context
- This is because as suggested by Thomas & McManimom the willingness of inmates to use violence in prisons to settle disputes reflects prisoners lives in the ‘real world’ and is a result of their dispositions (beliefs, history, traumas, abuse etc.)
- Irwin & Cressey > inmates import such behaviours into prisons which will predispose them to use their aggression to establish power, status, access to resources etc.
- not be challenged as aggression is apart of the ‘convict subculture’
What is the dispositional explanation based on?
- nature (individual temperament)
- nurture (social environment)
What evidence is there for the importation model?
- DeLisi et al > studied a group of juvenile offenders
- found that certain dispositional traits such as childhood trauma, anger etc. were imported into prisons
- also coincided with an increase risk of violent behaviour & suicidal activity amongst them compared with control group of inmates who did not have negative features
What is the situational theory for institutional aggression and who proposed it?
the deprivation model
Clemmer
What does the deprivation model argue?
- prison environment itself is the cause of IA >harsh prison conditions are stressful to inmates who cope by resorting to aggression
- harsh conditions include:
1. lack of opportunity to fulfil psychological needs (sexual intimacy)
2. physical factors (deprived of good & services)
3. prison regime (unpredictable & regular use of ‘lock ups’ to control behaviour > creates frustration, reducing stimulation by barring other activities e.g. TV)
-> leads to increase competition for resources which are resolved through violence (adaptive solution)
What evidence is there for the deprivation model?
Steiner in his meta analysis of 512 US prisons found that prison level factors e.g. overcrowding, more women staff & more inmates in protective custody were indicators for the likelihood of aggressive behaviour from inmates
What is a strength of the importation model?
P: Research support
EE: Camp & Gaes > studied male inmates with similar criminal histories & predispositions to aggression
half were placed in low security prions & half placed in high security prisons
- within two years there was no significant difference between prisons in the number of prisoners involved in aggressive misconduct
- concluded that features of prisons are less important predictors of aggressive behaviour > strong evidence due to random allocation of inmates > more valid & reliable
What is a limitation of the importation model?
P: ignored key factors
EE: Dilulio claims that the model ignores factors such as the way prions run in influencing prisoners behaviour
- he proposed an administrative control model (ACM) as a more valid & accurate explanation of aggressive behaviour > which states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to have inmate violence
- e.g. poor management includes unofficial rules, staff who remain distant from inmates etc.
may act as triggers for aggressive behaviour > suggest situational more important
What is a strentgh of the deprivation model?
P: research support
EE: Cunningham et al> analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons & found that the perpetuators motivations for violent behaviours were linked to some of the deprivations identified in Clemmer’s model
these included disputes between cell sharing inmates over drugs, sexual activity & personal possessions
L: support models validity
What is a limitation of the deprivation model?
P: the model predicts that a lack of heterosexual contact should lead to high levels of aggressive behaviour in prisons
EE: However, Hensley et al > studied male & female inmates of 2 prions in Mississippi which allow conjugal visits (visits from partners to have sex)
- Found no link between involvement in these visits & reduced aggressive behaviour
L: situational factors do not substantially affect prison violence > decreased validity
What might an expert recommend to reduce institutional aggression ?
- ways of reducing the negative effects of five types of deprivation (Sykes 1958) – liberty, autonomy,
heterosexual relationships, goods/services, security - prisoners be given some choice/influence over their daily routine to allow autonomy/control
- allowing access to material goods, services, visits etc. to avoid deprivation
