Institutional Aggression

Institutional Aggression

1. Refers to violent behaviour that exists within and may be a defining feature of certain institutions and groups

   • E.g. riots and intergroup fights
   • Institutions E.g. schools or prisons or even larger bodies such as police or the armed forces or even the whole of society

2. ZIMBARDO- standford prison experiment

   • Showed if physical abuse is not allowed, to maintain control, psychological abuse used instead

3. Abu Ghraib- case study shows that there are 3 main factors that contribute to institutional aggression:

   • Status
   • Power
   • Revenge

4. Irwin and Cressey

   • Importation Model
     • Model claims inmates who enter prison with particular characteristics E.g. attitudes, values and experiences = more likely to engage in interpersonal violence towards other inmates
       • Therefore, suggests its not the prison but the characteristics of the individuals
       • Also put forward the idea younger rather than older inmates have more difficult time adjusting to prison
         • Therefore, more likely to have confrontations with other inmates and staff
           • Also more likely to view violence as an appropriate response to conflicts
     • Supportive studies:
       • US- shown black inmates compared to white inmates = more likely to be linked to interpersonal violence
         • Black prisoners come from more underprivileged backgrounds & communities where blacks come from = violent crime rates much higher
       • Keller and Wang, prison violence = more likely to occur in high-security prisons rather than low-security prisons
     • Limitations
       • McCorkle et al, model fails to provide suggestions on how to control and prevent aggression in prisons
       • DeLisi et al, 800 inmates, found no evidence suggesting gang membership prior to prison had link to violence or misconduct within prison

5. Deprivation Model

   • This claims its the prison itself rather than prison population as the reason for prison violence
     • Doesn't deny the possibility of characteristics of the inmates but its primarily the experience, stress and tension of imprisonment translating to violence
   • Harer & Steffensmeier, described inmate behaviour as response to adjustment to deprivations or pains of imprisonment
     • Sykes- 'pains' could be loss of freedom, hetrosexual relationships, boredom, discomfort, and loneliness
       • Violence therefore reaction to the hurt they feel from these 'pains'
   • Some studies to support, one large study failed to support:
     • McCorkle et al, 371 state prisons in US, found little evidence to support connection between violence and measures E.g. overcrowding & living conditions
   • Poole & Regoli, young offenders in four different institutions, pre-institutional violence = best predictor of inmate aggression

6. Hard to collect evidence & researching institutions such as the armed forces or police = difficult due to confidentiality, lack of documentation and evidence