Institutional Aggression in the Context of Prisons

Question 1

Institutional aggression

Answer 1

Aggressive behaviour that takes place within a prison or other formal organised settings.

Question 2

Dispositional explanation

Answer 2

Aggression is due to an individual’s personality.
Irwin & Cressey’s Importation Model:
Prisoners import their aggressive tendencies into prison with them.
The use of violence to settle disputes reflects the life of inmates before they entered prison.
Inmates bring in subcultures linked to criminality and gang culture, which have strong power hierarchies.
Inmates then use aggression to establish power, status and influence.
Therefore, aggression is the product of the disposition of inmates, who are predisposed to using violence regardless of setting.

Question 3

Situational explanation

Answer 3

Aggression is due to features of the environment.
Clemmer’s Deprivation Model:
Harsh prison conditions are stressful.
Deprived of:
Liberty, autonomy and heterosexual intimacy (LINKS TO FRUSTRATION)
Safety (can lead to heightened defensiveness)
Goods and services (increases competition to acquire them and so increases aggression)
Unpredictable environment and use of ‘lock up’ also creates frustration and reduces stimulation, leading to boredom and aimlessness.
Aggressive behaviours help inmates cope in these deprived situations.

Question 4

+ P - Research support

Answer 4

E - De Lisi studied 813 juvenile inmates who brought in depositional features such as childhood trauma and a history of violence.
E - It was found that these inmates were more likely to engage in sexual misconduct and acts of physical violence than a control group of inmates with fewer dispositional features.
L - This suggests that the dispositional explanation of institutional aggression is true in saying that aggression is due to an individual’s personality.

Question 5

• P - Limited applications

Answer 5

E - For example, prison violence is seen as an inevitable result of the violent nature of inmates.
E - Therefore, this offers very little scope to actually improve prisons and make life better for both prisoners and staff.
L - This suggests that although the explanation is helpful in our understanding of institutional aggression, it serves no purpose in improving prison life an making an actual positive difference.

Question 6

+ P - RWA

Answer 6

E - For example, many prisons have tackled elements of deprivation within their institutions in an attempt to reduce aggression. Lowdham Grange (a prison in Nottingham) installed landlines in the cells that permit a few select numbers to be called (e.g. family members).
E - Statistics show that the prison is now safer.
L - This suggests hat situational explanations of institutional aggression are helpful and can be applied to actual prisons.