NCJ Number
168478
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 2 Dated: 1997 Pages: 103-113
Date Published
1997
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study assessed the effectiveness of the two prevailing criminological models that purport to explain inmates' institutional behavior patterns: the deprivation model and the importation model.
Abstract
The deprivation model holds that inmate rule infraction while in prison is due to the stressful and oppressive conditions within the prison itself. In contrast, the importation model argues that characteristics of individuals that predate confinement, such as race and gender, are critical factors in determining modes of inmate adjustment. Individual-level data from the Ohio correctional bureau were used to assess the efficacy of these two models. Variables used to test the deprivation model were security level, indeterminate sentence (dummy variable), and sentence length. Variables tested for the importation model were age, gender, race, educational attainment, employment, marital status, histories of mental illness and substance abuse, the number of violent offenses, the county of crime commitment, and prior juvenile and adult incarceration histories. The analyses did not support the deprivation model. None of the three variables derived from the model were significantly related to either severe or minor rule violations. At the individual level, the importation model was apparently supported. Age at admission was the most consistent and reliable predictor of both minor and severe rule violations. Non- Caucasians were significantly more likely to get a Class II ticket (severe violation) than Caucasians. Being female increased the probability of severe rule violations. The rest of the importation variables -- employment, marriage, mental illness, substance abuse, previous violent offenses, counties, and prior incarceration histories -- did not have an appreciable effect on the severe rule violations. The author discusses the significant impact of race and gender on severe rule violations but not on minor violations. 3 tables, 3 notes, and 48 references