2. SITUATIONAL VS. DISPOSITIONAL DEBATE
• Is Institutional Aggression a result of the environment of
the institution and situational factors attached to these?
• Or is it a result of dispositional factors of the individual
which have brought aggression into these institutions?
3. ABU GHRAIB QUOTE FROM GEORGE BUSH
• The United States is a “nation of law”, George Bush
insisted after the sickening photographs showing
American soldiers abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib
prison appeared last spring. The “disgraceful conduct” had
been the work of “a few bad apples” who would be
brought to justice.
4. ABU GHRAIB QUOTE FROM AL GORE
• Gore also called the Bush administration's Iraq war plan
"incompetent" and described Bush as the most dishonest
president since Nixon. Gore commented, “In Iraq, what happened
in that prison, it is now clear, is not the result of random acts of a
few bad apples. It was the natural consequence of the Bush
Administration policy.”
5. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT
• Suggests there are aspects of a person’s disposition
that make them more likely to perform aggressive
actions than others
9. IMPORTATION MODEL…
• Irwin & Cressey, (1962)
• Supporters of the dispositional argument to explain institutional
aggression in prisons.
10. IRWIN & CRESSEY (1962) – IMPORTATION MODEL
• The people put in prisons are more likely to have violent
backgrounds and therefore more likely to bring violence
into institutions
11. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• Harer & Steffensmeiser (1996)
• Analysed data from 58 U.S prisons…
• Found that Black inmates displayed significantly higher levels of
violent behaviour but lower rates of alcoholism and drug use,
which were significantly higher in White inmates.
12. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• Harer & Steffensmeiser (1996)
• They concluded that these differences reflect racial differences
within US society generally.
• Inmates had imported their cultural characteristics into the prison
13. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• Keller & Wang (2005)
• Found that Prison Violence and assaults on staff by inmates are
more likely to occur in maximum-security prisons
• These prisons hold inmates with the most violent histories.
14. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• The Importation Model suggests that membership of a violent
gang prior to confinement will result in increased levels of violence
within the prison.
15. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• DeLisi et al (2004)
• Analysed 800 male inmates
• Found no evidence that gang membership prior to prison was
linked with violence within the prison
16. DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT – A02
• Does not provide any suggestions for how to best
manage violent offenders or how to reduce institutional
violence in general.
