situational explanation

• P: there is substantial research evidence to support the claim that peer violence is a response to the deprivation experienced in institutional cultures, such as prisons

  E: McCorkle, in a study of 371 US prisons, found that situational factors such as overcrowding and lack of privacy influenced inmate-on-inmate assaults.

  L: this suggests that depriving inmates of meaningful activity increases the likelihood of violent behaviour, as predicted by the deprivation model
• P: the link between situational factors and institutional aggression is challenged by the findings of one of the most exhaustive studies in prison violence

  E: they collected data from more than 24000 inmates from 58 prisons across the US. they included importation variables and deprivation variables and tested which of these variables predicted the individual likelihood of aggressive behaviour while in prison
• link for harer and steffensmeier

  L: harer and steffensmeier concluded that race, age and criminal history were the only significant predictors of prison violence, whereas none of the deprivation variables were significant in this respect