Institutional Aggression Flashcards
What is the dispositional explanation for institutional aggression?
Irwin and Cressey (1962) - the importation model
- argues that prison inmates bring with them a subculture typical of criminality from the outside world
- includes beliefs, values and norms and other personal characteristics such as gender and race
- willingness to use violence to settle disputes reflects their lives before they were imprisoned
- its a way of negotiating their way through an unfamiliar prison environment
What is the situational explanation for institutional aggression?
Clemmer (1958) - the deprivation model
- the cause of institutional aggression is placed within the prison environment itself
- harsh prison conditions are stressful for inmates who have to cope by resorting to aggressive behaviour
- deprivation of material goods creates competition amongst inmates
- prison regime that is usually unpredictable creates frustration and reduces access to stimulating activities
What is research evidence for dispositional explanation of aggression?
DeLisi et al. (2011)
813 juvenile delinquents confined in institutions in California
These were inmates that brought in several negative dispositional features such as childhood trauma
Findings - these inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity and sexual misconduct as well as commit more acts of physical violence
This was compared with a control group that had fewer dispositional features
What is research evidence for situational explanation for aggression?
Steiner (2009)
Investigated the factors that predicted inmate aggression in 512 prisons in the USA
Cross sectional, longitudinal study that accessed factors at 2 time points
Findings - inmate on inmate violence was more common in prisons where there was a higher proportion of female staff
Importance of crowding itself varied based on prison size
Larger total populations (1862 or more) coincided with a higher proportion of assaults, but the same effect didn’t appear in units below this size
AO3: research support for dispositional explanation of aggression ✅
Camp and Gaes (2005) studied 561 male inmates with similar criminal histories and predispositions to aggression
Findings:
- of the 50% placed in low security prisons, 33% of those were involved in aggressive conduct
- of the 50% placed in the second highest category of prisons, 36% were involved in aggressive conduct
As the difference in violence between the 2 settings is not significant, the researchers concluded that featured of the prison environment are less important than characteristics of inmates
AO3: importation model is an inadequate explanation of aggressive behaviour ❌
It ignores the role of prison officials and factors relating to runnings of the prison
He proposed an administrative control model (ACM) which states that poorly managed prisons are likely to experience the most serious forms of inmate violence e.g murder, rioting
Poor management is characterised by weak leadership, unofficial rules and staff who remain distant from inmates
These factors are argued to be more influential in determining aggression
AO3: research support for situational explanations for aggression ✅
Prison Governor David Wilson (2010) reasoned that most violence occurs in environments that are hot, noisy and overcrowded
Changes were made at HMP Woodhill, such as toughened glass used to replace interior walls and give natural light and rooms kept at lower temperature
These changes virtually irradiated assaults on prison staff and other inmates
Provides support that situational variables are the main cause of prison violence
AO3: opposing evidence to situational explanations of aggression ❌
Harer and Steffenseiser (1996)
Collected data from more that 24000 inmates from 58 prisons across the US
Concluded that race, age and criminal history were the only significant predictors of prison violence
Furthermore, Dury and DeLisi (2011) found that individuals who had been gang members prior to imprisonment were significantly more likely to commit various types of misconduct in prison e.g murder, hostage taking, assault with a weapon
