Elsevier

Journal of Criminal Justice

Volume 42, Issue 6, November–December 2014, Pages 462-470
Journal of Criminal Justice

Causes and correlates of prison inmate misconduct: A systematic review of the evidence

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2014.08.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

Inmate rule violations or “misconducts” reflect offending within a prison, and this study involved a systematic review of studies of the causes/correlates of inmate misconduct published between 1980 and 2013.

Methods

An exhaustive search of relevant high impact journals yielded 98 studies of causes/correlates of inmates misconduct published between 1980 and 2013. The final models from these studies were examined to assess the impact of the predictor variables on misconduct.

Results

Findings revealed that predictor variables reflecting inmates’ background characteristics (e.g., age, prior record), their institutional routines and experiences (e.g., prior misconducts), and prison characteristics (e.g., security level) all impact misconduct.

Conclusions

Researchers should apply general theories of crime and deviance (e.g., control) that can incorporate all of the empirically relevant inmate and prison characteristics to the study of offending in prison (misconduct). Researchers should also examine the sources of variability in the effects of predictor variables across studies.

Introduction

The formal rules of inmate conduct govern and regulate behavior within a prison. Deviations from the rules or “misconducts” reflect offending in prison (DiIulio, 1987, Eichenthal and Jacobs, 1991, Irwin, 2005, ⁎Wooldredge, 1994). Inmates who commit misconduct are also more likely to exhibit continuity in offending upon release (Trulson, DeLisi, & Marquart, 2011). Thus, scientific inquiry concerning the sources of inmate misconduct can improve our understanding of the influences of criminality among high risk offenders and shed light on whether imprisonment, or the interventions that occur within prisons (e.g., vocational programs), are effective at initiating desistance from offending. Institutional safety and order are also evaluated in part by the level of inmate misconduct within a prison, and identifying the sources of inmate misconduct can aid correctional administrators in developing more practical methods for reducing the problem (e.g., classification tools, structured routines, intervention programs).

The importance placed on institutional safety and order maintenance by prison administrators has generated numerous studies of the causes and correlates to inmate misconduct. However, there have been few attempts to synthesize the findings from these studies, and existing reviews are either dated (e.g., Adams, 1992, Gendreau et al., 1997, Goodstein and Wright, 1989, Wooldredge, 1991) or limited in scope (e.g., Bottoms, 1999, Byrne and Hummer, 2008, Schenk and Fremouw, 2012). Here we review the scientific evidence regarding the sources of inmate misconduct derived from studies published between 1980 and 2013. We also discuss the leading theories of inmate offending and evaluate whether the extant evidence supports these theories. We conclude with suggestions for future research on inmate behavior.

Section snippets

Theoretical explanations of misconduct

Researchers have historically relied on three theoretical perspectives to identify potential correlates of inmate misconduct. Deprivation theory suggests that misconduct is a reflection of how inmates adapt and cope with the “pains” inflicted by the prison environment, whether through participation in a social system that helps to reduce these deprivations (Clemmer, 1940, Sykes, 1958), or through individual choices that help to facilitate need satisfaction (Goodstein et al., 1984, Goodstein and

Current study

Deprivation theory has underscored the potential relevance of environmental conditions of prisons for predicting misconduct. Importation theory has drawn attention to individual characteristics that may be linked to misconduct. Management perspectives have highlighted the possible impact of prison administrators and staff on inmate behavior. Application of general theories of crime and deviance to an understanding of misconduct have permitted theory testing among the incarcerated population and

Methods

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the evidence concerning the sources of inmate misconduct. We examined the journals Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Research on Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Law and Society Review, Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Criminology and Public Policy, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Social

Findings

Our review of the studies of inmate misconduct published between 1980 and 2013 revealed that the number of related studies increased over time. We found five studies that met our inclusion criterion in the 1980s, compared to 26 studies in the 1990s, and 34 studies in the 2000s; 33 additional studies have been published between 2010 and 2013. With regard to misconduct, researchers typically examined official measures of misconduct (63 studies), although some researchers examined self-reported

Discussion and conclusions

Inmate rule violations or misconducts reflect offending within a prison (DiIulio, 1987, Eichenthal and Jacobs, 1991, Irwin, 2005, ⁎Wooldredge, 1994). A history of misconduct within prison has also been linked to continuity in offending after release (Trulson et al., 2011). An understanding of the causes and correlates of inmate misconduct can shed light on the sources of criminality among high risk offenders and inform whether imprisonment or prison-based interventions (e.g., disciplinary

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