Prison

About: Prison is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 25120 publications have been published within this topic receiving 470474 citations. The topic is also known as: jail & gaol.

Inmate-On-Inmate Assault: A Multilevel Examination of Prison Violence

Abstract: Most literature on inmate assaultive behavior considers only one level of analysis, thereby ignoring the importance of prison context on inmate behavior. This study improved on past research by combining inmate and prison-level data into a multilevel model explaining inmate-on-inmate, nondeadly assaults. Data from 1,054 male inmates in 30 prisons revealed that age and aggression were the most robust predictors of inmate-on-inmate assaults. In terms of multilevel effects, aggressive inmates were found to commit more assaults in prisons that were more crowded and had a greater percentage of younger inmates (e.g., younger than age 25). Policy implications and suggestions for a multilevel theory of prison violence are discussed.

Correlates of Institutional Misconduct Among State Prisoners

Abstract: * * * As with participation in illegitimate activities in the larger society, involvement in rule infractions within prisons is not normally distributed among prisoners. Rather, a small segment of the inmate population is disproportionately represented in official records of disciplinary activity. In this research, factors associated with differential levels of involvement in prison disciplinary infractions were examined. The findings indicate that the inmate's age at commitment, history of drug use, current offense (particularly homicide/nonhomicide categories), and the type of sentence that the inmate served were significantly related to high-rate infraction status. For one subgroup of the inmate population, race was also significantly related to infraction-rate status. However, these variables are not sufficiently predictive of institutional misconduct to justify their use as classification factors. The implications of the findings for the study of social control mechanisms in prisons are discussed.

The Limited Importance of Prison Expansion

Abstract: Introduction over the past twenty years , the fifty American states have engaged in one of the great policy experiments of modern times. In an attempt to reduce intolerably high levels of reported crime, the states doubled their prison populations, then doubled them again, increasing their costs by more than $20 billion per year. The states and the Federal government have given up a lot to get to this point: That $20 billion could provide child care for every family that cannot afford it, or a college education to every high school graduate, or a living-wage job to every unemployed youth. But crime levels appear to have (at last) responded, dropping to their lowest level in years. Thus recent history provides a prima facie case for the effectiveness of prisons. Not everyone has found this evidence persuasive. Some argue, quite convincingly, that the recent crime reductions had nothing to do with the prison buildup. Crime dropped because the job prospects of povertystricken youths have improved, or because police have become more effective at getting weapons off the street, or because neighbors are beginning to watch out for one another again. As usual, correlation does not guarantee causation. If we are to determine the role of the prison buildup in the recent crime reductions, we will need to take a more systematic approach.

Individual and organizational determinants of correctional officer attitudes toward inmates

Abstract: This paper analyzes the impact of individual attributes and organizational influences in the determination of correctional officers’attitudes toward inmates. Drawing on survey data from 179 line-level correctional officers, the analysis evaluates the expectations of prison reformers that more highly educated, female, and minority officers will hold more positive attitudes toward their inmate clientele. Contrary expectations drawn from the sociology of work literature suggest that the work-role socialization will overshadow the effect of individual attributes in the determination of officer attitudes. The analysis reveals that minority officers hold more positive orientations toward inmates, while education and gender exert no impact. In addition, organizational-level characteristics are also important in the prediction of officer views of inmates. These findings suggest that correctional reforms that focus primarily on changing the demographic composition of correctional officers are quite unlikely to ameliorate significantly the tension in today's prisons. It is necessary for both reformers and social scientists to develop more sophisticated analyses of the interplay between individual attributes and work organization characteristics and their joint effects on behavior in the prison setting.

Evaluation of rape victim by men and women with high and low belief in a just world

Abstract: Men with high belief in a just world evaluated a videotaped rape victim more negatively than did men with low belief in a just world. Women with high belief in a just world were less negative toward the rape victim than women with low belief in a just world. Participants with low belief in a just world recommended significantly longer prison sentences for the rapist. Evaluations of the rapist and rape victim were not influenced by information about the outcome of the case (the rapist was never caught, the rapist was caught and sentenced to either 1 or 15 years in prison). Implications for just-world beliefs of jurors in rape trials were discussed.