An empirical typology of violent incidents reported by prison inmates with convictions for violence

Abstract

Forty‐four male prison inmates convicted for violent offences were interviewed, and details of current offence, previous convictions for violence, prison incidents, and violent situations outside of prison were obtained from each offender. Information on victim, circumstances, precipitating events, type of violence, emotions at the time, and the like, was derived for 246 violent incidents. Cluster analysis revealed eight clusters: “criminal” violence to familiar victims, peer violence within prison, domestic violence, peer violence in pubs, gang violence, violence to staff in prison, “criminal” violence to unknown victims with accomplices, and public violence against younger victims. Results were discussed in terms of treatment of violent offenders, with special emphasis on Social Skills Training.

Using Situational Factors to Predict Types of Prison Violence

“…Henderson (1986) researched incidents both within and outside of prison, as described by the perpetrator, and found eight different clusters, in part based on situational factors, which roughly corresponded to eight different types of violence as previously described in other research. Kratcoski (1988) examined situational factors of inmate violence toward guards and found that location of assault, time o f day of assault, and work experience of the correctional officer assaulted, all varied systematically as a function of the assaultive behavior.…”

“…The usefulness of this type of prediction study has been questioned o n a number of grounds (Henderson, 1986;Megargee & Carboncll, 1985;Shawver, Clanon, Kurdys & Friedman, 1985). The pcrsonality inventories that are most often used, contain little situational or contextual information (Furnham & Henderson, 1982) which hampers their ability to aid in predicting violence that necessarily includes not only a person but also a situation.…”

“…Location of incident, time of day o f incident, and housing unit o f inmate have been indicated as possible predictors o f assaultive behavior i n psychiatric hospitals (Harris & Varney, 1986;Dietz & Rada, 1983); location, time o f day, and characteristics o f the reporting officer have been found to be related to staff assaults in prison (Kratcoski, 1988); and location, time o f day, and the presence of others have been found to be helpful in distinguishing types o f violence occurring in and outside o f prison (Henderson, 1986).…”

Childhood antecedents of serious violence in adult male offenders

“…A wide range of typologies of violence has been proposed and studied [Athens, 1980;Barratt et al, 1999;Henderson, 1986;Megargee, 1966;Polk, 1994;Rasche, 1993;Toch and Adams, 1994]. From a developmental perspective the relationship context is likely to be important.…”

The Pathways Model of Assault

“…However, their current attitudes toward violence would make them more amenable to behavior change. Their dissatisfaction with violent behavior may mark an opportunity for an intervention to enable these individuals to deal with conflict situations in a more functional manner (Henderson, 1986). The element of psychological distress is a factor that is considered to be a positive motivational force for behavior change prior to rehabilitation (Ward, Day, Howells, & Birgden, 2004).…”