NCJ Number
225218
Journal
The Prison Journal Volume: 88 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 451-472
Date Published
December 2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
In this article, rates of victimization for a single prison system are presented by racial and ethnic groupings and by type of perpetrator.
Abstract
Disparities by race and ethnicity were found in prison victimization rates for adult males in a single prison system. The findings indicate that African-Americans were less likely to report being a victim of other inmates’ sexually or physically aggressive behavior but were more likely to report being victims of such behavior when staff members were identified as the aggressors. The opposite pattern was found for non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic inmates, like their African-American counterparts, had above average rates of staff-on-inmate victimization and White counterparts, also had above average rates of inmate-on-inmate victimization. Overall, however, rates of sexual and physical victimization within a 6-month period were roughly equal for non-Hispanic White, African-American, and Hispanic groups. With racial and ethnic disparities in victimization present, they do not appear to be principally explained by racism. Interracial patterns in sexual violence between inmate groups are well documented. Considerably less is known about the interracial patterns of sexual violence as well as physical violence between staff and inmates. This article provides rates of victimization for a single prison system by racial and ethnic groupings and by types of victimization and type of perpetrator. Tables and references