Institutional aggression
Aggressive or violent behaviour that takes place within social context of a prison or
other formal organised setting
Two explanations to institutional aggression: dispositional factors and situational factors
Dispositional explanation
An explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individuals
personality (ie their disposition)
Emphasis = individual personality and differences
The importation model
Irwin and Cressey’s (1962)
Argues that prisons are not completely isolated from everyday life outside in the
“real world”
Inmates come from the outside world and bring with them (import) a subculture
typically of criminality. Includes beliefs, norms, attitudes and history of learning
experiences, gender and ethnicity – do this to handle new environment and
challenges of prison life
Based on individual nature (eg inherited temperament) and nurture (eg social
environment)
Willingness of inmates to use violence inside prison to settle disputes reflects their
lives before they were imprisoned - aggression is the product of individual
characteristics (disposition) of inmates and not the prison environment/context
Emphasis = inmates predisposition to using violence and experience of using it outside the
prison context
A03
Prisoner characteristics linked to outcomes = Research Support
DeLisi et al (2011) studied group of juvenile offenders in Californian institutions –
natural experiment
Had negative backgrounds (eg childhood trauma, anger, histories of substance abuse
and violent behaviour) = experimental group
Individuals were importing these characteristics (and the resulting dispositions) into
prison.
Researchers compared experimental group with a control group of inmates who did
not have these negative dispositional features
Findings: “negative” inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity, sexual
misconduct and acts of physical aggression = SUPPORT FOR IMPORTATION MODEL
Camp and Gaes (2005) - Research Support
studied 561 male inmates in California with similar criminal histories and
predispositions to aggression
50% randomly placed in low-security Californian prisons
50% randomly placed in high-security prisons
Involvement in aggressive misconduct:
Aggressive or violent behaviour that takes place within social context of a prison or
other formal organised setting
Two explanations to institutional aggression: dispositional factors and situational factors
Dispositional explanation
An explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individuals
personality (ie their disposition)
Emphasis = individual personality and differences
The importation model
Irwin and Cressey’s (1962)
Argues that prisons are not completely isolated from everyday life outside in the
“real world”
Inmates come from the outside world and bring with them (import) a subculture
typically of criminality. Includes beliefs, norms, attitudes and history of learning
experiences, gender and ethnicity – do this to handle new environment and
challenges of prison life
Based on individual nature (eg inherited temperament) and nurture (eg social
environment)
Willingness of inmates to use violence inside prison to settle disputes reflects their
lives before they were imprisoned - aggression is the product of individual
characteristics (disposition) of inmates and not the prison environment/context
Emphasis = inmates predisposition to using violence and experience of using it outside the
prison context
A03
Prisoner characteristics linked to outcomes = Research Support
DeLisi et al (2011) studied group of juvenile offenders in Californian institutions –
natural experiment
Had negative backgrounds (eg childhood trauma, anger, histories of substance abuse
and violent behaviour) = experimental group
Individuals were importing these characteristics (and the resulting dispositions) into
prison.
Researchers compared experimental group with a control group of inmates who did
not have these negative dispositional features
Findings: “negative” inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity, sexual
misconduct and acts of physical aggression = SUPPORT FOR IMPORTATION MODEL
Camp and Gaes (2005) - Research Support
studied 561 male inmates in California with similar criminal histories and
predispositions to aggression
50% randomly placed in low-security Californian prisons
50% randomly placed in high-security prisons
Involvement in aggressive misconduct:
