Institutional Aggression

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  • Created by: imanilara
  • Created on: 21-02-16 21:37

Importation model AO1

IRWIN AND CRESSEY: 
-Prisoners bring social histories and traits into prison- influences how they adapt to prison
-I+C 1962- prisoners are not blank slates, their normative systems are IMPORTED into prison
-Theory suggests that the nature of the institution/its power hierarchy do not cause any of the aggression that occurs-it is about personalities/histories/learned behaviour
-dispositional explanation-something about the individuals involved determines the aggression in the institution

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Importation model AO2

Real world: fits stereotypes and beliefs about institutions where agg behaviour occurs, e.g. people believe violence happens in prisons because aggressive pepole go to prison. Equally, lots of people believe that police violence occurs because the people employed in a police force are authoritarian, agg people. 
Supported by studies:
-ind differences in agg in institutions (race, gender)- Harer and Steffenmeister(2006)- collected data from 58 US prisons- black inmates=higher rates of violent behaviour, lower rates of drug related misconduct than white inmates-these mirror trends in wider US society-support imp. model. (cultural bias+small sample)
-De Lisi et al (2004)- prison records for over 800 inmates-violent beh in prison caused by those who were violent outside of prison-large sample
-ind differences in normative systems obv has effect-supports imp model-negative is that it only explains prison behaviour-dep. model is a competing theory+Mccorkle et al found it was situational factors that caused agg-overcrowding, lack of meaningful activity etc

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Deprivation model AO1

-Prisoner/patient agg a product of the stressful/oppressive conditions of institution (Paterline+Peterson)
-Crowding, experience of the staff influences agg- Hodgkinson et al found that trainee nurses more likely to suffer than more experienced ones
-One is deprived of home comforts+freedom+social networks- they are deprived=violent beh towards inmates, staff and the building itself
-Situational and not disposition-it is the nature of the institute that influences agg beh

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Deprivation model AO2

Lots of supporting evidence:

Large 2002 study looked at 421 male prisons, found those with the most restrictive regimes=more agg to staff-large sample yet gender bias- supports dep model in that agg happens due to oppressive insitution. 

Harer+Steffenmeister: pains of imprisonment-loss of freedom, heterosexual relationships, loneliness-cause prison violence-it is due to the nature of the institution and therefore supports

Poole+Rigoli 1983- doesnt support- 4 different juvi institutions-pre-conviction violence best indicator for violence-low historical val, are prisons more restrictive now?

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IDA

Wilson's study- changed HMP Woodhill prison- cooled it down, less noise, fewer people+a view- this reduced agg in prison, but political pressure resulted in these changes not being permanent

Dep is deterministic-if the institution is oppressive you will be agg-but this isnt true, and it only takes nurture into account, not nature, whereas importation arguably deals w both,

both ignore the genetic factors- could be down to high levels of hormones such as dopamine and testosterone-not learned behaviours or situations.

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