PRE-INSTITUTIONAL VERSUS SITUATIONAL INFLUENCE IN A CORRECTIONAL COMMUNITY (FROM CRIME AND JUSTICE, 1971-1972 - AN AMS ANTHOLOGY, 1974 BY JACKWELL SUSMAN SEE NCJ-28615)

• NCJ Number: 28616
• Author(s): B SCHWARTZ
• Date Published: 1974
• Length: 18 pages
• Corporate Author: AMS Press, Inc
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

REPORT ON A STUDY OF THE DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF AN INMATE'S PRE-PRISON AND CURRENT PRISON EXPERIENCES ON HIS INSTITUTIONAL BEHAVIOR.

Abstract

THE SUBJECTS FOR THIS STUDY WERE 194 INMATES OF GLEN MILLS, A PENAL INSTITUTION FOR DELINQUENT BOYS LOCATED 22 MILES EAST OF PHILADELPHIA. CASE FOLDERS PROVIDED RESEARCHERS WITH 19 VARIABLES BY WHICH INMATES COULD BE CHARACTERIZED RPIOR TO THEIR COMMITMENT. FOUR IN-PRISON OR SITUATIONAL VARIABLES - INTEGRATION INTO PRISON PRIMARY GROUPS, STAFF ORIENTATION, FAMILY CONTACT, LENGTH OF CONFINEMENT - WERE USED TO CHARACTERIZE INMATES DURING THEIR CONFINEMENT. IN ADDITION, THREE DEPENDENT VARIABLES - CRIMINAL VALUE-ORIENTATIONS, CONFORMITY TO THE INMATE CODE, AND PEER IDENTIFICATION - WERE USED TO ASSESS WHETHER PRE-INSTITUTIONAL AND SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES WERE MORE FORCEFUL ON SOME LEVELS THAN ON OTHERS. DATA ANALYSIS SUGGESTED THAT THE 'CULTURAL DRIFT' THEORY, (PRE-PRISON INFLUENCES) IS MOST APPLICABLE TO AN INMATE'S PEER IDENTIFICATION AND THAT THE 'INDIGENOUS INFLUENCE' (EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT) THEORY WAS MOST VALID WITH RESPECT TO HIS CONFORMITY TO THE INMATE CODE. THIS DIFFERENTIAL SENSITIVITY OF INMATE PERSPECTIVES TO PRE-INSTITUTIONAL AND SITUATIONAL VARIATION IS DISCUSSED. THE AUTHOR CONCLUDES THAT THE CULTURAL DRIFT AND INDIGENOUS INFLUENCE THEORIES, WHEN STATED IN FORMS WHICH DENY THE EFFECTS OF THE OTHER ON THE PRISON'S REHABILITATIVE OR CRIMINALIZING POTENTIAL, ARE BOTH WRONG.