Institutional aggression Flashcards
Where are the 2 places institutional aggression takes place?
Within groups and between groups.
Within groups:
The importation model
Interpersonal factors
Prisoners bring their own social histories into prison and this influences their adaptation to the prison environment. Prisoners are not ‘blank slates’ when they enter the prison, and many of the normative systems developed on the outside would be ‘imported’ into the prison.
Within groups:
The importation model
Gang membership
Pre-prison gang membership appears to be an important determinant of prison misconduct. Members of street gangs offend at higher levels than those not involved in street gangs. Gang member in the US were found to be 10x more likely to commit a murder and 3x more likely to assault someone than were non-gang members. However, could be due to situational factors, age meaning fear.
Within groups:
The importation model
Research support using black inmates
Black inmates had higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol related and drug related misconduct. These conclusions are parallel to behaviors in US society and so supporting the importation model. However, this is for US inmates only and so cannot be applied to everyone. Need indigenous psychologists.
Within groups:
The importation model
Evidence that disputes the importation model and gang membership
Inmates with prior gang involvement were no more likely to engage in prison violence. This lack of correlation may be down to violent gang members being in solitary confinement, restricting their opportunities for violence. When isolating known gang members in a prison, rates reduced of assault by 50%, supporting the model
What are the 2 models called in institutional aggression within groups?
importation model
deprivation model
Within groups:
The deprivation model
Aggression is the product of stressful and oppressive conditions of the institution itself. This includes overcrowding and staff experience. With those more experienced being less likely to suffer an assault.
Within groups:
The deprivation model:
The ‘pains of imprisonment’
Specific deprivations may lead to an increase in violence in prisons. This includes loss of liberty, autonomy and security. E.g. threat to personal security can increase anxiety in prisoners. Inmates cope with pains of imprisonment in many ways; either choose to withdraw through seclusion of rebel in the form of violence.
Within groups:
The deprivation model:
Research support
Overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity all influenced peer violence. Research has found that peer violence is used to relieve the deprivation imposed by institutions. However, when increasing peoples personal space in institutions, the level of violence did not decrease.
Within groups:
The deprivation model:
Real world application
Violence occurs in hot, noisy and overcrowded places. A study where prisoners were put in a situation where they were less claustrophobic, had a low temperature and had a view to outside, assaults were virtually non-existent. However, due to political pressures, these situations cannot be implemented.
Could combining the two models be a full explanation?
It has been found that the best indicator of violence among young offenders was pre-institutional violence regardless of any situations factors.
Deprivation model is best to explain violence against staff whereas importation is best to explain violence against peers.
Between groups:
What is genocide?
One section of society deliberately killing another section e.g. because of race
Between groups:
Dehumanisation
If the target group is dehumanised then the members are seen as ‘worthless’ animals and therefore not worthy of moral consideration.
Between groups:
How can dehumanisation be applied to the real world?
Fears of people living in that country causes dehumanisation. This is because of media depictions causing e.g. refugees, to be seen as violent. Causes a lack of sympathy and hence we see them as less human. Types of personality can cause this too. Those with high social attitudes see the world as a ‘competitive jungle’ and tend to dehumanise out group members.
Between groups:
The importance of bystanders
There is an importance difference between the effect of intervention on duration and on severity of violence. Intervention by outside agencies can shorten a conflict, but may also cause perpetrators to step up their genocidal policy during that period of time
