Institutional Aggression in Prisons Flashcards
what are dispositional and situational explanations?
2
dispositional explanations = emphasise the causes of a particular behaviour as being due to the enduring characteristics of the individuals involved rather than any aspect of the situation they are in
situational explanations = emphasise the causes of a particular behaviour as being due to the context in which it occurs rather than the enduring characteristics of the individuals involved
what is institutional aggression?
1
refers to aggressive acts that are found in particular violent institutions such as prisons
explanations of institutional aggression in prisons: why are prisons so violent?
2
the importation model — a dispositional explanation
the deprivation model — a situational explanation
outline the situational explanation of institutional aggression: THE DEPRIVATION MODEL
6
focuses on the stressful nature of prison itself and how that influences the inmates that are subject to this form of stress
Paterline and Peterson (1999) argue that institutional aggression is the product of the stressful and oppressive conditions of prison itself
in response to these oppressive conditions, inmates may act more aggressively
from this perspective, institutional aggression is influenced and determined solely by prison-specific variables rather than by inmate characteristics
Kimmet and Martin (2002) conducted a study of over 200 prison inmates and discovered that violence in prison is frequently a way is surviving the risk of exploitation by avoiding being seen as weak or vulnerable, which is an ever present threat within prison culture
they also found that most violent situations in prisons were more to do with non-material interests such as the need for respect and fairness or as a way of expressing loyalty and honour
THE DEPRIVATION MODEL: what deprivations do inmates experience in prison?
3
Sykes (1958) described the specific deprivations that inmates experience within prison which might be linked to an increase in violence
these include the loss of liberty, loss of autonomy and loss of security
inmates may cope with the pains of imprisonments in several ways — some choose to withdraw through seclusion in their cell or living space while others choose to rebel in the form of violence against other prisoners or staff
THE DEPRIVATION MODEL: the role of prison characteristics
3
Cooke et al (2008) claim that in order to understand institutional aggression, we need to consider the situational context where violence takes place
they argue that violent prisoners are only violent in certain circumstances
these circumstances include….
• overcrowding
• heat and noise
• job burnout
THE DEPRIVATION MODEL: overcrowding
2
a government report in 2014 by the Ministry of Justice attributed the record rates of murder, suicide and assaults in prison to the increased overcrowding in British prisons
Yuma (2010) found that prison population density had a significant effect on inmate-inmate violence rates, even after controlling other possible contributing factors
THE DEPRIVATION MODEL: heat and noise
3
prisons tend to be hot and noisy places
such high temperatures and noise exacerbate the effects of overcrowding and may predispose inmates to aggressive behaviour
Griffitt et al (1971), in a study of students, found that a combination of high temperature and high population density produced more negative emotions compared to more comfortable temperatures and a lower population density
THE DEPRIVATION MODEL: job burnout
3
job burnout among prison staff refers to the experience of being psychologically worn out and exhausted from a job
includes a gradual loss of caring about the people with whom they work
Maslach et al (2001) argues that this leads to a deterioration in relationships between staff and inmates and reduces the overall functioning of the prison, which has been linked to the development of violence in prison settings
outline the dispositional explanation of institutional aggression: THE IMPORTATION MODEL
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argues that because prisons are full of dangerous people, these violent characteristics must be imported into the prison when prisoners are sentenced
institutional aggression is caused by inmate characteristics
Irwin and Cressey (1962) claim that inmates bring their violent pasts with them to prison and draw on their experiences in an environment where toughness and physical exploitation are important survival skills
prisoners are not blank slates when they enter prison and many of the normative systems developed on the outside would be imported into prison
in many cities, street culture has evolved a ‘code of the streets’ which is a set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behaviour, including violence
at the centre of this code is the issue of respect and being granted the deference one deserves
cultural belief systems, such as the code of the street, define how some individuals behave once in prison, particularly when this code relates to gang membership
THE IMPORTATION MODEL: gang membership
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gang membership is consistently related to violence and other forms of anti social behaviour in prison
pre-prison gang membership appears to be an important determinant of prison misconduct
several studies such as Allender et al (2003) have found that gang members disproportionately engage in acts of prison violence
members of street gangs offend at higher levels while in prison than their non-gang counterparts and account for a disproportionate amount of serious and violent crime
Drury et al (2011) studied over 1000 inmates in prisons in the south west of the USA and found that individuals who had been members of gangs prior to imprisonment were significantly more likely to commit various types of misconduct in prison, including murder, hostage taking and assault with a deadly weapon
THE IMPORTATION MODEL: the role of dispositional characteristics
3
other dispositional characteristics that have been found to relate to aggressive behaviour in prison include….
- anger, anti-social personality style and impulsivity — Wang and Diamond (1999) found that these three individual characteristics were stronger predictors of institutional aggression than ethnicity and type of offence committed, in particular, anger was the best predictor of violent behaviour while in prison
- low self control — DeLisi et al (2003) found that low self-control, particularly the tendency to lose one’s temper easily, was a significant predictor of aggressive behaviour both before and during incarceration
x2 evaluation points for the dispositional explanation
research support
challenging research
dispositional explanation evaluation — research support
7
there is research support for the importation model of institutional aggression
Mears et al (2013) tested the view that inmate behaviour stems in part from the cultural beliefs systems that they import with them into prison
they measured the street code belief system and the prison experiences of the inmates
their results support the argument that a ‘code of the street’ belief system affects inmate violence
this effect is particularly pronounced among those inmates who lack family support and were involved in gangs prior to incarceration
other research support for the importation model comes from Poole and Regoli (1983) who found that the best indicator of violence among juvenile offenders was pre-institutional violence, regardless of any situational factors in the institution
therefore, the importation model can claim reliability and may be increased in its ability to explain aggression, particularly aggression in prisons
dispositional explanation evaluation — challenging research
6
however, there is also research that challenges the importation model
for example, evidence from DeLisi et al (2004) challenges the claim that pre-prison gang membership predicts violence whilst in prison
they found that inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence
however, the lack of an association found in this study can be explained by the fact that violent gang members tend to be isolated from the general inmate population which greatly restricts their opportunities for violence
for example, Fischer (2001) found that isolating known gang members in a special management unit reduced the rates of serious assault by 50%
so while there is contradictory research, this research can be criticised which reduces its ability to challenge the importation model
x3 evaluation points for the situational explanation
research support
challenging research
real world application
situational explanation evaluation — research support
4
there is substantial research evidence to support the claim that peer violence is used to relieve the deprivation experienced in institutional cultures such as prisons
McCorkle et al (1995), in a major study of 371 US prisons, found that situational factors such as overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of meaningful activity all significantly influenced inmate on inmate assaults as well as inmate on staff assaults
Franklin et al (2006) also found a relationship between the age of inmates and overcrowding
their meta analysis found that crowded prison conditions increased aggressive behaviour in young inmates aged between 18 and 25 more so than in other age groups
situational explanation evaluation — challenging research
6
the link between situational factors and institutional aggression is challenged by the findings of one of the most exhaustive studies of prison violence
Harer and Steffensmeier (1996) collected data from more than 24,000 inmates from 58 prisons across the US
they included importation variables such as race and criminal history as well as deprivation variables such as staff to prisoner ratio and security level
they tested which of these variables predicted the individual likelihood of aggressive behaviour while in prison
they concluded that race, age and criminal history were the only significant predictors of prison violence, whereas none of the deprivation variables were significant in this respect
this challenges the view that institutional aggression is caused by the stressful and oppressive conditions of the prison itself and instead suggests that institutional aggression is caused by inmate characteristics
situational explanation evaluation — real world application
7
a real-world application of the deprivation model happened at HMP Woodhill in the early 1990s
Prison Governor David Wilson reasoned that if most violence occurs in environments that are hot, noisy and overcrowded then this could be avoided by reducing these three factors
Wilson set up two units for violent prisoners that were less claustrophobic and prison-like and gave a view to outside
the typical noise associated with prison life was reduced and masked by music from a local radio station, while temperature was lowered so that it was no longer stiflingly hot
these changes virtually eradicated assaults on prison staff and other inmates, providing powerful support for the claim that situational variables are the main cause of prison violence
therefore, the situational explanation of institutional aggression can be said to have high ecological validity as its main claims can be demonstrated in real life situations
consequently, it has increased usefulness in explaining aggression in the context of prisons
