Studies - Institutional Aggression

Mills, Kroner & Weeks (1998) 

Procedure

- Surveyed 202 inmates newly admitted to Canadian prison

- Used Alcohol Dependence Scale

Findings

- Higher levels of misconduct were associated with more severe levels of alcohol dependence. 

- Employment record, a lower level of education and a more serious criminal record were also linked with a greater likelihood of aggression when imprisoned. 

Harer and Steffensmeier (2006)

Procedure 

- Collected data from 58 US prisons

Findings

- Black inmates had significantly higher rates of violent behaviour but lower rates of alcohol and drug related misconduct than white inmates.

Delis (2004) 

Procedure 

- Studied prison records of 831 male inmates from south western USA to explore prison violence records of inmates involved in street and prison gangs. 

Findings 

- Significant relationship between gang membership and institutional aggression - suggesting subcultural values had been imported into prisons. 

Poole and Regale (1983) 

They assessed the relative impact of several deprivation and importational variables on inmate violence in four juvenile correction centres. Both sets of variables were shown to exert some effects on inmate aggression but pre-institutional violence emerged as the best predictor of inmate aggression. 

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Richards (2007)

Procedure

- Examined assaults in 900 US prisons.

Findings 

- Some inmate programmes increased rates of assaults while other decreased them. This suggests it is the characteristics of the prison that accounts for the levels of aggression. 

McCorkle (1995)

Found that overcrowding , lack of privacy and lack of meaningful activity all significantly influence peer violence, supporting the deprivation model. 

Also looked at individual and group aggression in 370 US prisons. Results demonstrated that the deprivation model didn't fully explain prison violence but there was a link between prison procedures and levels of aggression.