Also the prisoners may have being individualized because they are now a part of a group and will conform to their group; this can be an example of a dispositional explanation because they may earn respect from other prisoners within their group. A behaviourist explanation can also explain this situation as they would say that prison contains role models which other prisoners can be vicariously taught through the social learning theory. However this experiment is only in the USA which makes it ethnocentric and cannot apply for those living in other countries and those with different cultural views. Men are predominantly more aggressive according to a biological explanation which states that high levels of testosterone can be linked to aggression. This was researched by Clare 2000.
Institutional aggression can be defined as aggressive behaviour that occurs within an institution motivated by social forces, rather than anger or frustration. Aggression can occur within groups or between groups. Sometimes the members of an institution may adopt aggressive behaviour, for example inmates in a prison may form into gangs that commit violence against other inmates, or members of a work force may bully other workers. Of interest to psychologists is whether or not institutional aggression is caused by the personalities of the institution’s members, or by the situation the members find themselves in. A lot of research into institutional aggression has focused on aggressive behaviour in prisons, and has led to the development of two theories: the importation model and the deprivation model.
Eyesneck conducted his own research on prisoners and concluded that being high in any 3 can lead to criminal activity but more so neurotosism and psychosism. He argues there is a mirror neuron in people which enables you to sympathies and feel other peoples feeling, he argues that a lack of it means you find it hard to connect emotionally with others, something he sees could lead to criminal activity. Farmington et al reviewed a number of studies and found that offenders scored higher than a control group on psychotosism and neurotosism but not extroversion. Eyes neck believed people with high neurotosism scores would have difficulty learning socially appropriate behaviors through normal means of reinforcement and punishment. However Blackburn critiques Eyesneck saying it's unclear to what psychotosism is measuring it appears to be linked to psychopathic tendencies but not consistently.
This sentencing mechanism has certainly contributed to the increase in prison population. It has also placed harsher punishments that often times do not fit with the crime. Repeat offenders are getting sentenced to long prison terms for low priority crimes. “And if structured sentencing was designed to provide consistency in the type of sentences handed down for specific crimes, the habitual felon law does exactly the opposite, as the offender’s status as a “habitual felon” determines the sentence more so than the severity of the most recent felony”
This merger may become apparent where external behaviours and roles are internalised. The Stanford Prison Studies (Zimbardo, 1971) portrayed that the power of the situation can be stronger then the individual, as initial role playing as guards resulted in sadistic and oppressive behaviour. The guards justified their behaviour as fulfilling a job. However, they were no longer wearing a costume and acting, they had become their role. This study suggested that brutality can be a consequence, not only a cause, of being in situations committed to extraordinary violence.
Acts of armed robbery that end in violence or homicide tend to render the public outraged and give their voice a stronger demand for justice to be done. If we choose to take the stance that our criminal justice system is mean to only keep society safe and that justice is carried out then we need to recognize that the laws we have in place currently are set in place to do so. In theory we could see how enforcing a harsher sentence to those who choose to commit violent acts or armed robbery would work as a deterrent to prevent criminals from committing the act as often as they do
* According to this theory, interpersonal violence is not a product of the institution itself, but rather the characteristics of the individuals in the institution * Younger rather than older individuals are said to have a more difficult time adjusting in prisons and therefore are more likely to clash with other inmates – Adams 1981 * Research shown that black inmates when compared to white, are more likely to be associated with interpersonal violence – explanation is that black prisons enter the prisons from more impoverished communities with higher rates of violent crime – thus, import the violence due to cultural norms. * Deprivation model – Claims that the violence is due to the institution itself rather than the individuals. This model argues that it is the experience of imprisonment that causes the inmates extreme stress and frustration and which in turn leads to violence and aggression * Harer and Steffenmeier – Argue that the reasoning for inmate’s behaviour is due to the problems of
CJS/240 July 16, 2012 Asharani Moore Typically the majority of juveniles are unaware of the laws that follow when juveniles commit offenses. However the threat punishment does deter juvenile delinquency because most youths do not want to be punished for their actions. Enforcing harsher punishments upon juveniles will not prevent or decrease juveniles from further behavior. Instead increasing the availability of police and probation officers could provide juveniles with one-one-one assistance to focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. The general ideal of the deterrence method suggest that one punishment is enough to deter other people if the situation is take care of quickly enough.
REHABILITATION VERSES INCARCERATION Rehabilitation should be viewed as more key than incarceration itself. People who are convicted of crimes should be allowed to heal and better themselves. Many of those people have serious addictions and issues that need to be addressed. In jail however, those issues will only worsen or fester. When the prisoner is released, they may be very angry about the lack of attention they recieved, and become a repeat offender.
The physical and psychological impact of prison is far more likely to have a serious and negative impact than a similar sentence would have on an adult prisoner. Juveniles should never be in prison with adults because not only they are more likely to be corrupted by the prison environment, but there is also the persistent danger of abuse including sexual abuse and health risks. ‘The greatest danger is physical and sexual assault by adults housed in the same facility, including inmate trustees who may have access to juveniles in ‘separate’ quarters in jail.’ (Clement 395). Juvenile delinquents need help and a direction in life should be given to them. Placing them in adult prison subjects them to violence and exploitation, and deprives them of the chance to start their new lives.