Outline and evaluate one form of institutional aggression (WITHIN GROUPS: PRISONS)

Outline and evaluate one form of institutional aggression (WITHIN GROUPS: PRISONS)

1. Importation Theory AO1

   • Irwin & Cressey (1962)
     • Claimed prisoners brought their own behavioural characteristics and experiences into prison with them, rather than being ‘blank slates’
   • Allender & Marcell (2003)
     • Found that gang members are more likely to engage in prison violence than those who do not belong to a gang, suggesting that the experience of prison itself has little effect on levels of aggressive behaviour
   • Huff (1998)
     • Gang members are 10x more likely to murder and 3x more likely to commit assault in public than non-gang members
   • Fischer (2001)
     • Isolating known gang members in special management units reduced violence by 50% across a prison population

2. Deprivation Theory AO1

   • McCorkle et al (1995)
     • Found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence, often because the prisoners develop boredom and frustration at the amount of time they are confined for
   • Paterline & Peterson (1999)
     • When the prison is more crowded this leads to more fear and frustration, which increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour
   • Wilson
     • Found that the more overcrowded a prison was, the more violence occurred
   • HMP Woodhill
     • Found that changing the conditions within the prison to include toughened glass walls- which gave a sense of a more spacious prison
   • Sykes (1958)
     • Described the deprivations experienced by inmates as the ‘pains of imprisonment’, including loss of autonomy and the loss of security. He suggested this raises anxiety in inmates and could therefore increase violence

3. Importation Theory AO2

   • DeLisi (2004)
     • Found gang experience prior to going to prison had no effect on the likelihood of engaging in prison violence, however this may be because gang members are often separated into special management units when they are imprisoned
   • Harer and Steffensmeier (2006) (Real life app)
     • Collection of data from 58 US prisons that found that black inmates had significantly higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol related and drug-related misconduct than white inmates. These patterns parallel racial differences in these behaviours in US society and so support the importation model

4. IDA

   • Determinism
     • The theory suggests that violence in prisons is solely the result of the conditions in the prisons, and ignores other factors, such as the prisoner’s perceived rewards of committing the acts of violence (e.g. respect)
   • Reductionism
     • The theory could also be considered reductionist in terms of its lack of consideration for a range of personal factors, such as locus of control and individual differences. The theory also ignores biological factors such as genetic history, neurological imbalances and gender, all of which can increase the likelihood of an individual acting aggressively

5. Deprivation Theory AO2

   • Poole and Ragoli (1983)
     • Suggested that the best indicator of violence among young offenders was pre-institutional violence, regardless of the conditions within the prison
   • Nijman (1999)
     • Contradicted Wilson’s claims that personal space reduced violence by suggesting it made no difference in levels of frustration, however Nijman’s study was focused on psychiatric wards in hospitals