Institutional Aggression

• What is institutionalised aggression?


  Systematic violence or hostility within an institute
• What are the 2 types of explanations for institutional aggression?


  • Dispositional explanations say that prison violence is caused by the personal characteristics of prisoners.
  • Situational explanations say that prison violence is caused by the unpleasant environment and poor conditions in prisons.
• The importation model explains aggression as being caused by...

  • Biological factors like damage to the limbic system
  • Biological factors like carrying the short allele of the MAOA gene
  • Biological factors like increased testosterone
  • Environmental factors like aggressive childhood role models
• Who was the importation model discovered by?

  Irwin and Cressy (1962)
• The personal characteristics of the prisoners that predispose them to violence could include gender, biological risk factors, personality and aggressive role models.
• People who belong to gangs learn social norms that reward violence, called the "code of the streets". When put in a prison they carry these social norms with them.
• Support for the Importation Model: Mears et al


  Conducted a longitudinal study looking at children from poor areas where there are a lot of gangs to see whether they would join one. At adulthood, Mears et al tested those that had ended up in prison and looked at their violence levels. He found that prisoners were more likely to behave aggressively in prison if they had joined gangs and believed in a code of the streets.
• Support for the Importation Model: Kane and Janus


  Kane and Janus investigated the behaviour of prisoners in a prison and also measured their personal characteristics. They found that the level of violence of the prisoners was associated with a past history of violence, low levels of education, and unemployment.
• Situational Explanations: The Deprivation Model(created by Sykes)(created by Sykes)

  Factors that influence:

  • Deprivation of Autonomy
  • Deprivation of Heterosexual relationships
  • Deprivation liberty
  • Deprivation of security
  • Derivation of goods
• This model of institutional aggression...

  • was developed by Sykes
  • is called the deprivation model
  • is a situational explanation of aggression.
• What are the extra factors which could cause institutional aggression (situational explanation)?

  • Overcrowding
  • Temperature
  • Noise
• Support for the situational explanation: Overcrowding (McCorkle - 1995)


  McCorkle et al. conducted a correlational study, which looked at 371 prisons in the USA. He found a significant positive correlation between deprivation and overcrowding, and the level of violence displayed by the prisoners.
• Application of the Situational Explanation: HMP Woodhill (strength) 


  Can be applied to real situations, For example, in the 1990s, David Wilson reduced temperature, overcrowding, and noise levels at HMP Woodhill and found that violent behaviour significantly decreased at HMP Woodhill.
• Limitations of the Situational Explanation: Harer and Steffensmeier


  Harer & Steffensmeier studied 24,000 prisoners in the US, and they found that only personal characteristics predicted aggressive behaviour. This supports the dispositional explanation of institutional aggression. (being a limitation of the situational explanation)
• Combining Dispositional and Situational Explanations 


  Jiang & Fisher-Giorlando conducted a study looking at 431 reports of violence in a US prison and found that the importation model best-explained violence against other prisoners, whereas the deprivation model best-explained violence against the staff.