Gangkill: An Exploratory Empirical Assessment of Gang Membership, Homicide Offending, and Prison Misconduct

Abstract

Extant research indicates that inmates with street gang history are prone for prison misconduct but that inmates convicted of homicide offenses are less likely to be noncompliant. No research has explored the interaction between street gang history and homicide offending. Based on official infraction data from 1,005 inmates selected from the Southwestern United States, the current study found that inmates with street gang history and convictions for homicide offenses were significantly involved in six types of institutional misconduct, net the effects of homicide offending, offense severity, street and prison gang risk, violence history, and demographics. Implications for theory and research are explored.

Serious assaults on prison staff: A descriptive analysis

“…If the relationship between individual-level factors and serious assaults on staff were consistent with those characteristics identified from studies relying on inmate violence as more broadly defined, it is anticipated that these attacks would be disproportionately perpetrated by inmates who are younger (Berk, Kriegler, & Baek, 2006;Cooper & Werner, 1990;Harer & Steffensmeier, 1996;Wooldredge, 1991), male (Baskin, Sommers, & Steadman, 1991;Harer & Langan, 2001), Black (DeLisi, Berg, & Hochstetler, 2004Harer & Steffensmeier, 1996; but see Jiang & Fisher-Giorlando, 2002;Cunningham, Sorensen, Vigen, & Woods, 2010), lacking a high school diploma or GED (Cunningham, Sorensen, & Reidy, 2005;Cunningham & Sorensen, 2006;Harer & Langan, 2001), members of prison gangs (DeLisi et al, 2004;Drury & DeLisi, 2011;Gaes et al, 2002), serving longer sentences for violent crimes (Berk et al, 2006;Griffin & Hepburn, 2006;Huebner, 2003; but see Cunningham & Sorensen, 2006;, housed in higher custody levels (Cunningham & Sorensen, 2006;Worrall & Morris, in press), with prior prison terms Cunningham et al, 2005;Sorensen & Pilgrim, 2000; but see Cao, Zhoa, & Van Dine, 1997), and particularly those with prior histories of prison violence (Drury & DeLisi, 2010;Harer & Langan, 2001).…”

Individual and group IQ predict inmate violence

“…The most consistent predictor indicative of the deprivation perspective is prison gang membership. Repeatedly, researchers have shown that prison gang membership predicts violent behavior in prison (Cunningham & Sorensen, 2006b;2007;DeLisi et al, 2004;Drury & DeLisi, 2011;Gaes, Wallace, Gilman, Klein-Saffran & Suppa, 2002).…”

Violent criminals locked up: Examining the effect of incarceration on behavioral continuity

“…Being married, previously employed, and having attained higher levels of education were shown to reduce prison misconduct, as they do crime in the community Sampson & Laub, 1993). The level of involvement in, or affiliation with street or prison gangs, alternately, increased the likelihood of various types of violent rule infractions (Di Placido, Simon, Witte, Gu, & Wong, 2006;Drury & DeLisi, 2011;Gaes, Wallace, Gilman, Klein-Safran, & Suppa, 2002;Griffin & Hepburn, 2006). The extent to which gang members are involved in prison violence, however, can depend on security precautions and procedures employed by correctional systems to prevent gang-related violence (DeLisi, Berg, & Hochstetler, 2004).…”