Discuss research into institutional aggression

Discuss research into institutional aggression

1. Importation Model

   • Is one explanation for institutional aggression in prisons
   • Model proposes that the violence and aggression found in prisons and other institutions are imported from outside.
   • It is not the institution that fosters aggression but that the inmates import violence from their own backgrounds and communities outside of the prison.
   • The cults, the alliances, the drug habits and social problems outside are compounded within the fixed limits of the prison and the prison or institution becomes a "pressure cooker" for aggression.
   • A02
     • Huff (1998) found that gang members in the US were ten times more likely to commit a murder and three times more likely to assault someone in public than were none-gang members of a similar age and background
     • DeLisi et al (2004) challenges the claim that pre prison gang membership predicts violence whilst in prison. They found that inmates with prior street gang involvement were no more likely than other inmates to engage in prison violence. This lack of correlation between the two might be explained by the fact that violent gang members tend to be isolated from the general inmate population, therefore greatly restricting their opportunities for violence.

2. Deprivation model

   • An explanation for institutional aggression in prison
   • Suggest that aggression occurs as a result of internal factors witihn the prison setting.
   • Suggest that the problem is with the institution: the overcorwding, the loss of personal rights, the strict regime, loss of freedom and heterosexual relationships.
   • Other factors that can cause aggression in prison is isolation from community, boredom, petty rules and intrusion into privacy. All of these create the tensions that will ultimately result in violence and aggression
   • A02
     • mcCorkle et al found that overcrowding, lack of privacy and the lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence.
     • Nijman et found that increased personal space failed to decrease the level of violent incidents among patients. This contradicts the deprivation model as it states that factors such as lack of personal space is meant to cause the violence when in fact, when this problem is solved by increasing personal sapce the same rate of violence in prisons continue to occur. It makes the deprivation model less valid of an explanation.

3. IDA'S

   • The supporting evidence for the deprivation model and the importation model can be seen as gender bias. The research focuses on males aggression in prisons so applying the results to other institutions like work places should be treated with caution as this supporting evidence doesn't account for female aggression in institutions. It makes both models less valid explanations for institutional aggression.
   • The nature nurture debate has to be taken into account when analysing research into institutional aggression. Tghe improtation model considers both the underlying personality of the individuals witihin an institution as well as their pre-prison environment. However the depivation model only considers the environment and individuals find themselves in. It doesn't take into consderation the personalities of the individuals. This makes the deprivation model less valid explanation of institutional aggression as it only considers the nurture side of the nature nurture debate.
   • The importation and deprivation models can be considered in the context of the determinism/free will debate. The importation model suggests that aggression in prisons is a result of individual characteristics; that aggression in prisons is a result of internal factors within the prison setting. Both could be seen as deterministic views as they suggest prisoners may have little free will over behaviour regardless of individual characteristics i.e. they have little choice with regard to their aggressive behaviour. It makes both the importation and deprivation model less valid explanations of institutional aggression