Dispositional Explanation

• Who came up with the Importation Model?

  Irwin and Cressey
• What does the Importation Model state?

  • Inmates bring with them a subculture of typical criminality from the real world
  • This includes beliefs, values, norms, attitudes, and a history of learning experience as well as other personal characteristics
  • Inmates import such behaviours as a means of negotiating their way through unfamiliar environments
  • Aggression is a product of individual characteristics of inmates and not the prison environment
• Supporting Research - DeLisi et al 


  • 813 male juvenile delinquents confined in prison in California
  • The inmates brought in several negative dispositional features e.g. childhood trauma, higher anger levels, irritability, substance abuse and violence
  • These inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity, sexual misconduct and physical violence
  • Control group of inmates had fewer instances of aggression and fewer negative dispositional features
• Limitations of DeLisi et al's research:


  • Ungeneralisable - Only Americans in California studied
  • Beta Bias - Only studied men and no women
• Supporting Research - Camp and Gaes

  • 561 inmates with similar criminal histories and predisposition to aggression
  • Half were placed in low security Californian prisons and half were placed in very high security prisons
  • 33% of inmates in low security were involved in aggressive misconduct within 2 years
  • 36% of inmates in high security were involved in aggressive misconduct within 2 years
  • No significant difference so must be dispositional factors
• Limitation of Camp and Gaes research:?

  • Ungeneralisable - Only Americans in California studied
  • Beta Bias - Only studied men and no women