what is the dispositional model?
sees institutional aggression as occurring because of the characteristics of the individuals in prison
what is the importation model?
who put it forward?
-Irwin & Cressey 1962
-a dispositional explanation seeing prisoners as bringing their usual high levels of aggression into a prison setting
what’s an example of a factor outside of prison effecting a persons behaviour inside?
substance addiction, when inside prison they no longer have access, and withdrawal can cause aggression
what are the three main prison sub-cultures?
-criminal/thief sub-culture
-convict sub-culture
-conventional / ‘straight’ sub-culture
what is the criminal/thief sub-culture?
-advocates a criminal code of honour eg not telling on other inmates
-promotes honour, trust and loyalty
-members will be hardened criminals, repeat offenders
-aggression takes place in this group but not as bad as the convict group
what is the convict sub-culture?
-strong power hierarchy
-much of the behaviour is based on someone’s position in the hierarchy
-most likely to become aggressive to exercise power over inmates
-members are often from deprived areas outside prison and are familiar with gang culture
what is conventional / ‘straight’ sub-culture?
-members are new to prison and likely only one-time offenders
-try to keep clear of the other groups
-have more in common with the guards
-not generally aggressive
what do the sub-cultures show?
how background and learned history can affect likelihood of aggression in prison, as well as personality characteristics
research on the dispositional and importation models
-jiang + fisher-giorlando 2002 - dispositional explanation was best for explaining violence against other inmates, situational was best for explaining violence against staff
-kane and janus 1981 - young offenders and non-white prisoners more likely to be aggressive, could be due to influence of gang culture and/or marginalisation of ethnic minorities
evaluate the dispositional explanation
-looks at prisoners in a more idiographic way, individual experiences explain behaviour (although sub-culture ideas are nomothetic)
-suggests rehabilitation should consider the home environment of the offender
-prisons inspectorate report of violence in feltham young offenders institution - found gang graffiti in cells suggesting very few inmates weren’t gang members
-poole + regoli 1983 - pre-institutional violence is the best predictor of institutional aggression in juvenile prisons, but not in adult prisons
