A03

• A weakness of the importation model is a failure to consider situational factors which contribute to the quality of the prison, and therefore the associated prison factors, as proposed by Dilulio (1991). He suggests that the ‘administrative control model’ (ACM) is a more valid and accurate explanation of aggressive behaviour within prisons, because it emphasises the consequences of poor prison management.
• These can include irregular implementation of rules and officers maintaining psychological distances with the inmates. Such factors may create ‘triggers’ for aggression which increases the influence of dispositional factors.
• However, there is evidence supporting the situational deprivation model of aggression. For example Cunningham et al (2010) found that several of Clemmer’s identified situational factors were involved in 35 homicides within Texas prisons, such as disputes over relationships and authority. Therefore, this suggests that such factors are an important determinant of increasing the likelihood of aggressive behaviour.
• A more valid and reliable explanation of offending aggression may be in the form of adopting an interactionist approach, particularly because situational and dispositional explanations are on opposite ends of the nature versus nurture debate, as suggested by Dobbs and Waid. The stress and unfamiliarity of prison life is likely to increase the influence of dispositional factors in the development of aggressive behaviour, but one does not necessarily need to cause the other.