institutional aggression in prisons

Question 1

how many prisoner on prisoner assaults happen in prison each year?

Answer 1

22,000

Question 2

what are the two explanations?

Answer 2

situational and dispositional

Question 3

what is the situational explanation?

Answer 3

prisons are stressful and oppressive (paterline and peterson) - leads to prisoners being more aggressive
conditions are overcrowded, hot, noisy
deprivation model - loss of liberty autonomy and security

Question 4

what are the two ways prisoners can cope with pains of being in prison?

Answer 4

1. seclusion in the living space (hiding)
2. rebel in the form of violence against prisoners or staff

Question 5

what does the situational explanation solely believe?

Answer 5

violence is influenced and determined by prison - specific variables rather than inmate characteristics

Question 6

what did kimmet & martin find?

Answer 6

they looked at 200 prison inmates and found that violence was a tool for survival - way of surviving the risk of looking weak, exploitation, the need for fairness, respect

Question 7

overcrowding

Answer 7

higher rates of murder & assaults due to increased overcrowding (gov report)
japanese study - population density had a significant effect on inmate on inmate violence

Question 8

heat & noise

Answer 8

predispose inmates to aggression - made worse by overcrowding
griffitt & veitch - heat and population density produce more negative emotions

Question 9

job burnout

Answer 9

prison offices are psychologically worn out and exhausted - loss of caring who they work with and deterioration in relationship with inmates - more likely to be violent as frustrated

Question 10

what is the dispositional explanation believe?

Answer 10

aggression is due to the individuals themselves rather than the environment

Question 11

What is the importation model?

Answer 11

based on the idea that violence is imported into the prison by the dangerous and violent people that are taken in

Question 12

what did Irwin and Cressey state?

Answer 12

they claim that prisoners are not blank slates
they enter the prison violent and draw on these violent experiences from the outside to use in prison where it is a hostile environment
cultural belief systems are integral to this

Question 13

what is the code of the streets?

Answer 13

• The code are cultural belief systems and form unformal rules that govern how one behaves
• The code of the streets are formed in cities and brought into prison life
• At the heart of the code is respect
• A big factor of the code is gang membership
• This results in violence on behalf of the gang

Question 14

what are some examples of the code?

Answer 14

Violence to new prison mates, respect to gang members only, disrespect is met with violence, snitching is forbidden

Question 15

gang related violence

Answer 15

Allender and Marcell found the gang members disproportionately engaged in violence in prison
Drury and Delisi - prisoners who were gang members prior to prison were significantly more likely to commit various acts of aggression in prison

Question 16

what are some other dispositional factors?

Answer 16

• upbringing - modelling of aggressive behaviour area of upbringing attachment
• gender testosterone levels more likely to be aggressive
• anger, antisocial personality style and impulsivity have a higher chance of showing aggression Wang and Diamond
• Low self control

Question 17

AO3 delisi et al

Answer 17

they found pre-prison gang membership did not predict violence within prisons however it was stated that key gang members were often held in isolation and away from the general prison population