Dispositional explanation

Question 1

Who argued the importation model?

Answer 1

Irwin and Cresseys

Question 2

What is the importation model?

Answer 2

Prisons are not completely insulated from everyday life outside in the ‘real world’
Prison inmates come from the outside world and they bring with them a subculture typical of criminality
Including beliefs, norms, attitudes and history of learning experiences as well as other personal characteristics such as gender and ethnicity

Question 3

What does the dispositional explanation suggest?

Answer 3

Individual nature and also nurture
Willingness of inmates to use violence inside prison to settle disputes reflects their lives before they were imprisoned
Thomas et al
‘people who prey on others on the streets also prey on others in the prison
Inmates import such behaviours and characteristics which then influence their use of aggression to establish power, status, influence and access to resources
Aggression is the product of individual characteristics of inmates and not of the prison environment

Question 4

What did DeLisi et al study?

Answer 4

Studied a group of juvenile offenders
Californian institutions
Negative backgrounds
Individuals were importing these characteristics into prison
Researchers compared this group with a control group of inmates who did not have these negative features
Negative inmates were more likely to engage in suicidal activity, sexual misconduct and acts of physical aggression

Question 5

What is a strength of the importation model?

Answer 5

Research support
Camp and Gaes
Studied 561 male inmates
Similar criminal histories and predispositions to aggression
1/2 randomly placed in low security Californian prisons
1/2 randomly placed in high security prisons
Within 2 years
No significant difference between prisons in number of prisoners involved in aggressive misconduct (33% and 36%)
Concluded features if the prison environment are less important predictors of aggressive behaviour than characteristics of inmates
Strong evidence for importation because of random allocation of inmates

Question 6

What is a limitation of the importation model?

Answer 6

Ignores key factors
Dilulio
Claims importation model ignores other factors that influence prisoners’ behaviour - eg the way prison is run
He proposed an administrative control model which states that poorly managed prisons are more likely to have inmate violence
Poor management - weak leadership, thriving culture of unofficial rules, staff who remain distant from inmates and few opportunities for education
Importation is an inadequate explanation because institutional factors are probably more important than inmate characteristics