Institutional aggression WITHIN groups. Flashcards
Introduction. Aggression? Prisons? Statistics? Models?
Aggression is a form of hostile behaviour usually inhibited by social norms.
Within groups, the main focus for aggressive behaviours is prison, but it can also include armed forces and prisons.
The danger of prison can be shown through the statistics, it has been shown that incidents within prisons involving aggressive behaviours have risen by 61% between 2000 and 2009.
It has also been reported that 70,000 inmates have been a victim of sexual assault; which is another form of aggressive behaviour.
It looks at two different models: importation model and deprivation model.
Importation model. Irwin and Cressey + interpersonal characteristics?
Irwin and Cressey claimed inmates that bring their own interpersonal characteristics into prison are more likely to engage in aggressive behaviours.
This then influences their behaviour to the prison environment.
They argue that prisoners are not ‘blank states’ when they enter prison.
Many of the normative systems developed outside of the prison are imported inside the prison.
Gang membership? Huff?
Gang membership is also consistently linked to violence within prisons and anti social behaviours.
There have been several studies that have found gang members engage in more acts of prison violence.
Huff found that gang members in the USA were 10x more likely to commit murders and 3x more likely to assault someone in public.
This was compared to non-gang members who were from a similar background and of similar age.
Evaluation. Huff & Steffensmeier + 58 US prisons?
They provided research support by collecting data from 58 US prisons.
They found that black inmates had higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol or drug related behaviour when compared to white inmates.
This shows a parallel with the racial differences in the US society and supports the importation model.
Evaluation. DeLisi et al? Challenges claim + gang members? Fisher support?
He challenges the claim that pre-prison gang memberships predicts violence within prisons.
They found that members who were involved in street gangs before prison were not different to those who engage in prison violence.
This shows a lack of correlation between the two.
However, this can explain the idea that violent gang members are more isolated from the general inmate population which can therefore decrease their aggression.
Fisher supported this by finding that isolating gang members in a special unit decreased their aggression by 50%.
Deprivation model. Product of stressful + oppressive conditions? Situational factors? Pain of imprisonment? Sykes?
This model argues that prisoner violence is the product of stressful and oppressive conditions within the institution.
The model also looks at situational factors, which can be crowds for example, and how that increases fear and frustration.
It has been found that trainee nurses are more likely to suffer from violent assaults and this is because the length of service is a contributing factor.
Sykes said that the loss of liberty, autonomy + security can lead to the increase in violence and this is down to deprivation; it is the pains of imprisonment.
Potential threats to security increases the anxiety and therefore the aggressive behaviours; even if the other inmates are no threat.
Some inmates can deal with prison through seclusion, but others cope through violence against other prisoners and staff because of the deprivation.
Evaluation. McCorkie et al? Nijman dispute?
There is support from the idea that inmates turn to peer violence to relive the deprivation they suffer with prison life.
McCorkie et al found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of security is all significant with peer violence.
However, this research isn’t consistent with its findings.
Nijman found that increased personal space failed to reduce the aggressive behaviours amongst inmates.
This show contradictory findings and can therefore dispute the research support.
Evaluation. Jiang & Fisher? Support importation and deprivation?
They provided research support for both models.
They said that the deprivation model can explain aggression against staff members.
The importation model is able to explain violence against males.
Overall, this provides an explanation for the theory of institutional aggression between groups and can dispute the weaknesses.
