Institutional Aggression Flashcards

1
Q

What are the two types of explanations for institutional aggression?

A
  • Dispositional (importation model
  • Situational (deprivation model)
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2
Q

Explain aggression at an institutional and/or at group level

A
  • Behaviours occurring within an institute (prisons, hospitals, army bases) that is motivated by social forces rather than anger or frustration
  • These processes at work are more complex than aggression at an interpersonal level.
  • IA can lead to terrible consequences for its victims
  • There are two explanations for institutional aggression within prisons; the deprivation model and importation model
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3
Q

What is the importation model?

A

A dispositional explanation stating that behaviour is a result of personal characteristics as opposed to the situation

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4
Q

What is the deprivational model?

A

A situational explanation, stating that behaviour is a result of the context an individual is in opposed to personal characteristics.

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5
Q

What is ‘code of the street’ ?

A
  • set of informal rules
  • governing interpersonal public behaviour, including violence
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6
Q

How does the ‘code of the street used to explain the importation model?

A
  • Used to explain importation model
  • Irwin and Casey
  • Claim that inmates bring their violent past into prison with them
  • Draw on their experiences in an environment where toughness and physical exploitation are important survival skills
  • Prisoners are not blank states when entering a prison and many of the normative systems may have be imported into prison
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7
Q

What is the heart of the code?

A
  • Respect
  • being granted the deference that one deserves
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8
Q

What is the deprivation model?

A
  • Cooke et al claims that in order to understand institutional aggression, we need to consider the situational context where violence takes place
  • Violent prisoners are only violent in certain circumstances
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9
Q

What are the circumstances for the deprivation model?

A
  • overcrowding
  • Heat and noise
  • Job burnout
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10
Q

In the importation model what does gang membership mean?

A

Gang membership leads to ASB

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11
Q

What researchers looked into the importation model using gang membership?

A
  • Drury and Delisi
  • US gang members significantly more likely to commit murders and acts of assault than non-gang members whilst being incarcerated
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12
Q

A03 Research to support the deprivation model

A
  • research to support that peer violence is a response to the deprivation experienced in institutional cultures, such as prisons.
  • McCorkle et al
  • Major study of 371 US prisons
  • found overcrowding and lack of privacy lead to inmate-on-inmate violence and inmate-on-staff
  • prisons which major % of population was involved in education/ vocational programmes had lower incidence of violence
  • Suggests that depriving inmates of meaning activity increases violent behaviour, as predicted by the deprivation model
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13
Q

A03 Challenges to the deprivation model

A
  • link between situational factors and institutional aggression is challenged by findings of studies of prison violence
  • Harer and Steffensmeier
  • Collected data from more than 24,000 inmates from 58 prisons across US
  • included importation variables (race/criminal history)
  • and deprivation variables (staff-to-prisoner ratio/ security level)
  • tested which variable predicted likelihood of aggressive behaviour in prison
  • concluded race, age, and criminal history were the only significant predictors of prison violence
  • whereas none of the deprivation variables were significant
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14
Q

A03 Support for the importation model

A
  • Mears et al
  • tested the view that inmate behaviour stems in part from the cultural belief systems they import with them
  • measured code of the street belief system and prison experience of inmates
  • results supported argument of code of street system affects inmate violence
  • effect pronounced when inmate lacked family support and involved in gangs beforehand
  • concluded, that it does not directly cause violent behaviour it calls for proactive responses to perceived insults and provocations.
  • in prison setting it is likely to involve violence as a way of commanding respect.
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15
Q

A03 Challenge to importation model.

A
  • Evidence from DeLisi et al
  • claims that pre prison gang membership predicts violence in prison
  • found inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence
  • Neither street gang or prison gang membership significantly predicted involvement in prison violence
  • lack of association can be explained by the fact violent gang members are isolated from general inmate population, therefore reducing opportunities for violence.
  • For example, Fischer found isolating known gang members reduced rates of serious assault by 50%
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