Prison Guard Misconduct

Abstract

The main purpose of this research proposal is to focus on the issue of prison guard misconduct faced by the criminal system today. The study of prison misconduct has been a topic which has been a subject of great import to criminological literature from the early 20th Century onward. The implications of the carceral experience have both ethical and utilitarian import to society as a whole. Over the last 80 years, two competing theoretical perspectives have been used to view this phenomenon: the importation model (Irwin and Cressey, 1962) and the work of Clemmer (1940) and Sykes (1958), the institutionalization/deprivation model. The aim of the research proposal is to look in the theoretical perspectives, background, future implications of the study; and most importantly, how this study will be conducted. This research proposal is basically a plan of the future research paper based on it.

Abstractii

Introduction1

Research Questions3

Literature Review3

Institutionalization4

Overcrowding6

Institutionalization/Prisonization10

Methodology11

Primary Question, Research Questions, and Hypotheses12

Conclusion14

References16

Prison Guard Misconduct

Introduction

The research problem is the issues facing the criminal justice system today. The purpose of this research proposal is to examine the characteristics of differing types of prison misconduct in the prison system. In addition, this study seeks to discover certain predictors of such misconduct. This phenomenon of prison misconduct is important to study because it encapsulates human rights and Constitutional issues. Further, if the subsequent behavior of released inmates is impacted by violence experienced whilst in prison then further investigation of this issue is important. Gibbons and Katzenbach (2006) stated the study of prison misconduct is “vital to society as a whole;” primarily, due to the fact that a majority of incarcerated inmates will return to society and their subsequent behavior will affect the society at large upon their release. “… What happens inside jails and prisons does not stay inside jails and prisons.”

Since De Tocqueville (2003) in the 18th Century, prisons have been studied in a great deal of depth by both sociologists and criminologists. Much of the literature has concentrated on prison violence only and using inmates as the units of analyses. This research proposal uses individual incidents of prison misconduct as units of analyses, and also explores not only violent prison infractions, but also incidents of sexual misconduct, and infractions related to the introduction and possession of contraband. Every incident of prison misconduct differs by situational factors and by the individuals perpetrating these incidents; however, as these incidents are stand-alone events they are the appropriate unit of analysis to use when attempting to tease out the different factors relating to the differing types of prison misconduct.

The works of Goffman (1961), Sykes (1958), and Clemmer (1940) concentrated on prisons as an institution and the individuals in those prisons being subject to "institutionalization" or "prisonization" It was not until 1962 when Irwin and Cressey introduced the concept of "importation" (i.e. the idea that the behavior of an inmate is largely a result of the characteristics that he brought into prison from his prior social environment as opposed to the characteristics and behaviors ...