Subcultural Integration and Prisonization -- Structures and Stability of Prisonization Determinants in Regard to Inmates of Juvenile Correctional Facilities (From Crime and Criminal Justice: Criminological Research in the 2nd Decade at the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg, P 251-272, 1988, Gunther K

• NCJ Number: 116139
• Author(s): R Tauss
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Max-Planck-Institute Fur Auslandisches und Internationales Strafrecht
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

This survey explored attitudes, orientations, and values described in the literature as determinants of juvenile prisonization and confinement.

Abstract

Prisonization determinants were time, selection, and interaction effects. These determinants were evaluated for a group of 96 juvenile prison inmates in a West German facility. Questionnaires were administered twice, at the time of confinement and approximately 7 months later. Inmate files were evaluated with regard to biographic determinants and factual confinement conditions. The study instrument addressed attitudes toward delinquency and legal behavior, value orientation, integration into delinquent groups both within and outside the institution, and oppositional attitudes toward prison officials. Without exception, differences after 7 months of confinement were attributed to basic differences existing before detention. The selection effect was obtained for determinants which could be interpreted as prison-specific maladjustment, such as oppositional attitudes toward the institution and assimilation of aggressive behavior patterns. More general attitudes, such as orientation toward the law, were not influenced by subcultural integration. A general time effect was observed by determinants dealing with adolescent integration into groups outside the institution, which could be considered a result of restrictions on contacts in prison. Further, time effects were established for determinants concerned with attitudes toward vocational training and postrelease expectations regarding employment. No correlations were observed between emotional orientations to peer groups and variations exhibited by prisonization determinants. 50 references, 2 tables.