Institutional

Question 1

What are the 2 explanations for institutional aggression?

Answer 1

Dispositional

Situational

Question 2

What is the dispositional explanation?

Answer 2

The importation model:

• inmates bring pre-existing values, attitudes and norms into prison including aggressive ones.
• therefore aggression is the product of individual characteristics of inmates rather than the prison environment.

Question 3

Who conducted research into the importation model?

Answer 3

DeLisi

Question 4

What was the procedure of DeLisi’s study?

Answer 4

• Studied 831 juvenile delinquents confined in institutions in california.
• Inmates who had experienced childhood trauma, high levels of anger and irritability and had a history of substance abuse and violent behaviour.

Question 5

What were the findings of DeLisis’s study?

Answer 5

• Inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal behaviour and sexual misconduct and committed more acts of physical violence that were brought to the attention of the parole hard compared with a control group of inmates with fewer negative dispositional features.

Question 6

State a positive of the dispositional explanation.

Answer 6

Research support:

• study of 561 male inmates with similar criminal histories and predispositions for aggression
• 50% placed in low-security Californian prisons and other 50% were placed in 2nd highest category of prisons
• 33% in low and 36% in high prisons were involved in aggressive misconduct
• not statistically significant so suggests prison environment is not important in predicting aggressive behaviour.

Question 7

State a negative of the dispositional explanation.

Answer 7

Alternative explanations:

• Dilulio
• explanation ignores influence of role of prison officials and factors relating to running prisons
• proposes an administrative control model which states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to experience the most serious forms of inmate violence (e.g. weak indecisive leadership)

Question 8

What is the situational explanation?

Answer 8

The deprivation model:

• deprivations in prisons (e.g. of freedom, safety, material goods) creates stress for inmates who respond with aggression
• also caused if prison regime is unpredictable and negative uses of ‘lock ups’ to control behaviour

Question 9

Who conducted research into the situational explanation?

Answer 9

Steiner

Question 10

What was the procedure of Steiner’s study?

Answer 10

• Investigated the factors that predicted inmate aggression in 512 prisons in the US.

Question 11

What were the findings of Steiner’s study?

Answer 11

• Inmate-on-inmate violence was higher in prisons where there were a higher proportion of female staff, African-American inmates, Hispanic inmates and inmates in protective custody for their own safety.

Question 12

State a positive of the situational explanation.

Answer 12

Research support:

• Cunningham
• analysed 35 inmate homicides in Texas prisons and found that motivations for the behaviours were liked to some deprivations identified by Clemmer
• E.G. arguments over drugs, homosexual relationships and personal possessions

Question 13

State a negative of the situational explanation.

Answer 13

Contradictory research:

• Hensley
• studied 256 male and female inmates of prisons in Mississippi that allow conjugal visits (visits from partners to have sex)
• found no link between involvement in these and reduced aggressive behaviour
• shows situational factors don’t affect prison violence