Institutional aggression in prisons Flashcards
What are the 2 explanations of institutional aggression?
Situational and dispositional
What is institutional aggression?
Aggressive acts within violent institutions like prisons
What is a dispositional explanation?
It emphasises the cause of behaviour being a personal characteristic of the individual
Who created the importation model?
Irwin and Cressey
What does the importation model suggest?
That aggression in prisons is caused by the violent personalities of the prisoners
What is a situational explanation?
It emphasises the cause of behaviour being due to the context an individual is in
What are the conditions like in prisons?
Unpleasant
Who proposed the deprivation model?
Sykes
What does the deprivation model suggest?
That institutional aggression is the direct result of situational losses
What four aspects are mentioned in the deprivation model?
Security, goods, relationships and autonomy
What three situational factors not mentioned in the deprivation model can also lead to institutional aggression?
Noise, temperature and overcrowding
Who provides research support for dispositional explanations of institutional aggression?
Mears et al
What did Mears et al test?
The theory that inmate behaviour stems from imported characteristics
What type of study did Mears et al conduct?
A longitudinal study
Who did Mears et al study?
Children from areas with lots of gangs
When Mears et al’s participants reached adulthood, what did they measure?
Looked at which ones ended up in prison, and measured their violence levels
What did Mears et al find?
That the inmates who had joined gangs were more likely to act aggressively and believe in the ‘code of the streets’
Who provides contradictory research for dispositional explanations of institutional aggression?
DeLisi
What exactly does DeLisi’s research contradict?
The belief that pre-prison gang membership determines institutional aggression
What were DeLisi’s findings?
That inmates who were previously in gangs were no more likely to act aggressively in prison than those who weren’t in gangs
What is a criticism of DeLisi’s study?
The fact that most of the gang members were isolated from other inmates, which reduces the opportunity for violent acts
What prison provides a RWA for situational explanations of institutional aggression?
HMP Woodhill
Who was in charge of HMP Woodhill?
David Wilson
Before changes were made, what was inmate behaviour like at HMP Woodhill?
Frequent riots + violence
What changes did David Wilson make to HMP Woodhill?
He reduced the noise and temperature levels + reduced overcrowding
What did David Wilson’s changes to HMP Woodhill lead to?
Virtually no institutional aggression
How can the use of HMP Woodhill to support situational explanations of aggression be countered?
It was a case study with no control group, so limited generalisability
Who provides contradictory research for situational explanations of institutional aggression?
Harer and Steffensmeier
How many prisons were included in Harer and Steffensmeier’s study?
58
How many prisoners were included in Harer and Steffensmeier’s study?
Over 24000
What factors did Harer and Steffensmeier analyse?
Situational (e.g. overcrowding and noise levels) and dispositional (e.g. age and criminal history)
What did Harer and Steffensmeier find?
The only significant variables for predicting institutional aggression were dispositional factors
