Institutional aggression
Institutional aggression
AO1
Importation Model - Irwin and Cressey
- claims inmates who enter prison with certain characteristics are more likely to engage in interpersonal violence than other inmates
- violence in prisons isn't a product of the institution itself but the characteristics of individuals who enter them
- young rather than old and black not white more likely to have higher interpersonal violence as they 'import' behaviours from their norms/culture/background
- recognised the importance of different prisoner subcultures and identified three different categories
1) the criminal or thief subculture: inmates follow norms and values that are inherent within professional thief - not betraying, trustworthy
2) the convict subculture: inmates who have been raised in the prison system, seek power, influence and information
3) the conventional or 'straight' subculture: one time offenders, not part of a criminal or thief subculture. Not really agg. in prison
AO2
:)
- detailed explanation of subcultures, doesn't view all inmates as soley influenced by one set of values - more holistic
- research shows pre-institutional violence emerged as the best predictor of inmate agg. supporting importation explanation however only studied juvenile institutions may be diff in adult settings
:(
- little practical use, fails to provide suggestions for how best to manage agg. prisoners and/or policy suggestions for reducing prison violence in general
Situational models
The Deprivation Model
AO1
- its the characteristics of the prison itself rather than the prison inmates that account for prison violence
- doesn't deny that inmates may enter prisons with certain cultural norms that are more or less likely to be violent
- primarily the experience of being imprisoned that causes extreme stress = violence
- E.G - overcrowding in UK prisons has forced many more inmates to share cells lead to an increase in interpersonal violence, harming and suicides
AO1
Importation Model - Irwin and Cressey
- claims inmates who enter prison with certain characteristics are more likely to engage in interpersonal violence than other inmates
- violence in prisons isn't a product of the institution itself but the characteristics of individuals who enter them
- young rather than old and black not white more likely to have higher interpersonal violence as they 'import' behaviours from their norms/culture/background
- recognised the importance of different prisoner subcultures and identified three different categories
1) the criminal or thief subculture: inmates follow norms and values that are inherent within professional thief - not betraying, trustworthy
2) the convict subculture: inmates who have been raised in the prison system, seek power, influence and information
3) the conventional or 'straight' subculture: one time offenders, not part of a criminal or thief subculture. Not really agg. in prison
AO2
:)
- detailed explanation of subcultures, doesn't view all inmates as soley influenced by one set of values - more holistic
- research shows pre-institutional violence emerged as the best predictor of inmate agg. supporting importation explanation however only studied juvenile institutions may be diff in adult settings
:(
- little practical use, fails to provide suggestions for how best to manage agg. prisoners and/or policy suggestions for reducing prison violence in general
Situational models
The Deprivation Model
AO1
- its the characteristics of the prison itself rather than the prison inmates that account for prison violence
- doesn't deny that inmates may enter prisons with certain cultural norms that are more or less likely to be violent
- primarily the experience of being imprisoned that causes extreme stress = violence
- E.G - overcrowding in UK prisons has forced many more inmates to share cells lead to an increase in interpersonal violence, harming and suicides