Institutional aggression Flashcards
What is institutional aggression?
Aggressive or violent behaviour that takes place within the context of a formal organised setting.
What is meant by a dispositional explanation?
Highlights the cause of a particular behaviour as being due to the characteristics of the individual (their disposition) rather than any aspect of the situation.
What is meant by a situational explanation?
Highlights the cause of a particular behaviour as being due to the context in which it occurs rather than the characteristics of the individual.
Explain Irwin and Cressey’s (1962) importation model as a dispositional explanation for institutional aggression.
Inmates import their beliefs, values, norms, attitudes and personal characteristics such as race, gender and class into the prison.
Prisoners have violent and aggressive experiences outside of the prison resulting in violent and aggressive behaviours inside the prison.
These aggressive behaviours are imported as a means of navigating and negotiating their way through the prison environment and therefore the use of aggression helps to establish power, status, influence and access to resources.
Research evidence for the importation model
DeLisi et al. (2011):
Studies 813 Juvenile offenders confined in Californian institutions. They all had negative backgrounds including experiences of childhood trauma, high levels of anger and irritability and a history of substance abuse. The researcher controlled these with a control group of inmates who didn’t have these negative backgrounds.
They found the “negative” inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity and sexual misconduct, and committed more acts of physical violence.
These individuals were thus importing these characteristics into prison.
Explain Clemmer’s (1958) deprivation model as a situational explanation for institutional aggression.
Places the cause of institutional aggression within the prison environment itself.
The harsh, oppressive prison conditions and the extreme deprivation leads to stress/frustration and lack of stimulation for inmates who resort to aggression to cope (adaptive solution). Psychological factors inmates are deprived of include freedom, autonomy, safety, independence and sexual intimacy. Deprivation of material goods and services increases competition amongst inmates.
Research evidence for the situational explanations for aggression
Steiner (2009) investigated the factors that predicted aggression in 512 US prisons across 45 states.
Found that inmate on inmate violence was more common in prisons where there were higher proportions of female staff, black and Hispanic inmates and inmates in protective custody. Overcrowding also seen to increase levels of violence.
These environmental factors which are separate from the individual reliably predicted violent and aggressive behaviour,
1 Strength, 1 Limitation of importation model (dispositional)
Research support:
Camp and Gaes (2005) studied 561 male inmates with similar criminal histories and predispositions to aggression. Half were randomly placed in Californian low-security prisons and half in high-security prisons. Over a two-year period, they found that 33% of low-security and 36% of high-security inmates were involved in aggressive misconduct. These findings show no statistically significant difference between the aggressive behaviours at the respective prisons, which suggests that features of the prison environment are less important predictors of aggressive behaviour than characteristics of the inmates. Therefore, such evidence supports the notion that aggressive and violent tendencies possessed by inmates prior to incarceration are an accurate predictor of violence and aggression within the prison context
Ignores factors relating to management of the prisons:
Dilulio (1991) argues that the importation model is an inadequate explanation of institutional aggression as it ignores the role of prison officials and factors relating to the running of the prison.
He proposed an administrative control model (ACM). This states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to experience the most serious forms of inmate violence.
Poor management is characterised by several factors including weak and indecisive leadership, a culture of informal and unofficial rules, staff who remain distant from inmates and few opportunities for education.
Suggests the importation model is not a wholly comprehensive explanation.
1 Strength 1 Limitation of deprivation model (situational)
Research support:
* Cunningham et al. (2010) analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons between 2000 and 2008. They found that the perpetrators’ motivations for their violent behaviours were linked to the deprivations experienced within the confines of the prison environment. . Particularly important were arguments over drugs, sexual activity and relationships, and personal possessions.
Cheeseman (2003) found the lack of stimulation and focus caused by the prison setting increased aggression levels. This aggression was then released in the form of violence to relieve stress.Factors such as overcrowding link in as there is greater competition for limited resources. This then elicits an aggressive response and the formation of gangs to help compete for resources takes this further.
Contradictory reserach:
*Hensley et al. (2002) studied 256 male and female inmates of two prisons in Mississippi, a state of the US which allows conjugal visits. The deprivation model would predict that this would lead to a reduction in aggression as they are not being deprived of sexual intimacy. However, there was no link between involvement in these visits and reduced aggressive behaviour.
In addition, McCorkle et al. (1995) investigated aggression in 371 state prisons in the US and found little evidence to support the link between violence and overcrowding. McCorkle points out that stress is experienced by most individuals in a prison environment, but not all individuals resort to aggression.
Alternative explanation for institutional aggression.
Importation model:
It has been argued that elements of both the deprivation and importation models are valid. It has been suggested that the importation model is a better explanation of violence between inmates, but the deprivation model is more useful in understanding aggression against prison staff.
Dobbs and Waid (2004) argue in favour of an interactionist model. Inmates entering prison for the first time will suffer deprivation, but deprivation doesn’t necessarily lead to violence unless it combines with the individual characteristics imported into the prison by inmates.
