Institutional Agression

Institutional Agression

1. The Importation Model

   • Irwin & Cressey
   • Prisoners are violent because they import their experienced from outside into the prison
     • if a prisoner was violent outside, they will be violent inside
   • prisoners will import the type of violence they are used to
     • if they use knives outside, they will use knives inside
       • if they are used to using different weapons they will be more likely to use another type of weapon
   • AO2
     • Harer & Steffenmeier - US - Black inmates were more likely to use violence inside of prison. white inmates were more likely to become addicted to drugs. this is very similar to the issues outside of prison in US society. supports aggression is imported
     • Allender & Marcell - pre prison gang membership appears to be an important predictor of prison aggression
     • DeLisi et al - gang members no more likely to be violent in prison than non-gang members, suggests importation model is too simple
       • violent gang members tend to be in isolation - fewer opportunities to engage in violence. DeLisi may be wrong
         • Fischer - when gang members were placed in special holding cells aggression rates dropped by 50%. Suggests DeLisi were wrong

2. The Deprivation Model

   • Sykes
     • Five factors that can lead to them feeling deprived
       • deprivation of liberty - no freedom
       • deprivation of autonomy - cannot decide what happened to them on a daily basis - deciding what to eat or wear
       • deprivation of goods/services - western countries emphasis owning possessions + this is prevented in prsion
       • deprivation of heterosexual relationships - men feel they are worth less when prevented from having a female partner + there is a high level of anxiety about homosexual behaviour
       • deprivation of security - prisoners fear their safety in prison
   • aggression is caused by inmates being deprived of various things they would have outside
   • the more deprived the prisoner feels, the more likely it is they will use aggression
   • deprivation leads to increased stress levels + also leads to competition for limited resources, in both cases aggression can be resorted to
   • AO2
     • Hodgkinson et al - experience nurse staff were less likely to be assaulted than inexperience staff. this supports the concept of lack of experienced staff contributing to aggression
     • McCorkle et al - overcrowding, a lack of privacy and a lack of things to do all increase the likelihood of inmate violence
     • Jaing & Fischer - Giorlando - combination of the importation and deprivation model was able to explain a lot of violence in their study. violence directed at prisoners was often linked to the importation model. and aggression directed at staff was best explained through the deprived circumstances in prisons

3. IDA

   • most studies are on men - makes it difficult to generalise to female prisoners
   • hard area to study - lab experiments would be unethical
     • natural + longitudinal studies are relied upon
       • natural experiments offer no control - it is hard for researchers to make definite statement

4. Genocide

   • the systematic attack of one racial or social group . E.g Rwandan massacre, Holocaust
   • most genocides have occurred as part of institutionalised racism where one group is dehumanised by another group
     • when dehumanisation occurs for long enough and is accompanied by official propaganda blaming the group for societies problems, a massacre is more likely
   • Staub - five stages
     • 1. difficult social conditions - not enough land/ food
     • 2. scapegoating a less powerful group - blaming difficult social conditions on them
     • 3. negative evaluation + dehumanisation of group - calling them parasites/ leeches ect
     • 4. moral values disappear + killing begins - possibly through deindividuation
     • 5. other groups + organisations dont stop the attacks - UN did not stop Rwandan massacre
   • A02
     • Milgram - suggested the Holocaust occurred because of obedience to a legitimate authority - suggests institutional aggression occurs because an individual is obeying a legitimate authority
     • Mandel - rejected Milgrams explanation - too simple and ignoring the complexity of what happened
     • Goldhagen - it ws anti-semitism that best explained the holocaust. supports the idea of dehumanisation playing a role
     • IDA
       • deindeviduation can play a key role in institutional aggression
         • uniforms/ tribal clothing are part of context for genocide - army uniforms worn by prison guards in Auschwitz