NCJ Number
188503
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 28 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 279-299
Date Published
June 2001
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study examined relationships between bullying features and suicidal behavior of jail inmates.
Abstract
The files of 95 suicide victims in jails and prisons in the Netherlands were examined for reports of bullying. In addition, 221 nonsuicidal jail inmates and 53 suicidal jail inmates were interviewed. As in the study of Power et al. (1997), respondents were not provided with a predetermined definition of bullying. All of the suicide victims' files were inspected for statements about bullying, threats, harassment, or teasing by people from within or outside the penal institution. Respondents of the comparison group and experimental group were asked to indicate whether they had felt bullied, threatened, harassed, or teased during their imprisonment, either by people from within the institution or by people from outside the institution. Suicidal ideation was assessed by using the Scale for Suicidal Ideation, which measures the intensity, duration, and specificity of someone's plans and wishes to commit suicide. The files of 34 percent of the suicide victims noted that the suicide victim had felt bullied. Bullying, especially serious bullying, was relatively often reported by suicidal inmates and by vulnerable inmates. Different types of bullies were associated with different forms of bullying and different degrees of suicide risk. Results suggest that bullying and suicide risk were related and that a distinction should be made between mild and serious features of bullying. 5 tables and 48 references