NCJ Number
99501
Date Published
1985
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Interviews with staff and inmates of a juvenile institution for hardcore male delinquents revealed that 72 percent of the boys were exploited materially or sexually by other inmates, some were also exploiters, and that another 18 percent were exploiters only.
Abstract
Initial interviews with staff indicated that food, clothes, and cigarettes were the major form of material exploitation, whereas masturbation of others, oral sodomy and anal sodomy were the forms of sexual exploitation. All of the 62 line staff and three-fifths of the 149 inmates were interviewed. The study also analyzed the demographic, criminal history, psychological, and physical characteristics of all inmates. The boys in the institution were 51 percent black and 48 percent white. Youth leaders of the line staff, who had more contacts than anyone with the boys, were 97 percent black. To understand the victimization, an exploitation matrix was examined. The hierarchy which emerged consisted of a black heavy, several black lieutenants, a third group made up of alright guys (mostly black) and chumps (mostly white); and a white scapegoat at the bottom of the pecking order. These four groups, along with one or two boys who remained independent of the exploitation matrix, made up the social organization of each of the eight cottages in the institution. It appeared that various stimulus qualities separated the boys in the different levels of the exploitation matrix. The most important of these qualities were impression management -accomplished by tone of voice, facial expression, posture, and personal confidence; race; social class; and number of previous commitments to institutions. Through these qualities, boys projected to others either the image of strength or weakness. A chart and nine footnotes are included.