NCJ Number
197640
Journal
Criminal Justice Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2002 Pages: 411-437
Date Published
November 2002
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article probes issues of victimization in its discussion of prisoner-on-prisoner violence in Germany’s correctional institutions.
Abstract
The authors begin by noting that prison violence remains a neglected area of research in Germany. Widely accepted notions of victims versus victimizers have previously precluded research into the problem of prisoner-on-prisoner violence. In this article, the authors set out to answer three central questions: first, what is the extent of prisoner-on-prisoner violence? Second, who are the victims of the violence and who are the victimizers? And third, do prison authorities attempt to identify and control such violence? The research focused specifically on young male prisoners and the phenomenon of male rape. The authors review previous research that reveals that criminology has not typically regarded young prisoners as victims. Research into this subtype of victim has remained a taboo subject matter, as has the phenomenon of sexual assaults among prisoners. Nine percent of prisoners claim to have been assaulted by another prisoner within the previous 6 months. Research also reveals that prison authorities do not do enough to identify and control violence among prisoners. In conclusion, the authors press for more research about prison violence and ventures that perhaps boredom and a lack of therapeutic, educational, and vocational programming may be at least partially to blame. Notes, references