NCJ Number
102229
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1986) Pages: 213-237
Date Published
1986
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This Canadian study uses empirical data to show that inmate violence tends to occur in certain custody environments, is perpetrated most often by certain types of inmates, and is exacerbated by certain correctional practices. Policy implications are drawn.
Abstract
An analysis of reported violent incidents in the Canadian Federal correctional system in 1980-1984 indicates that assaults between inmates constituted the prevalent violence form and that violence was most likely to occur in the regular inmate population of maximum-security institutions. Data for 1981-1984 showing inmates' rates of involvement in violence by sentence length, major offense, and age indicate that violent inmates tended to be young males serving relatively short sentences for a variety of criminal offenses. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of correlations of institutional violence rates with prison crowding levels and inmate population transience indicate that crowding per se does not correlate with increases in violence rates. Inmate transfers to less crowded institutions, however, does correlate with violence in those institutions, probably due to the destabilization of social environments. Corrections officials should determine conditions most likely to precipitate violence by particular inmate types and then match settings to inmate characteristics to reduce violence. Inmate transfers should be reduced in the interest of stabilizing inmate social environments. Tabular data, 3 notes, and 44 references.