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Crowding, Social Control, and Prison Violence: Evidence from the Post-Ruiz Years in Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

Sheldon Ekland-Olson
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Abstract

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In this paper, I examine two explanatory models for prison violence. In the first, the crowding model, violence is said to arise from the cognitive confusion and tension induced by crowded conditions. In the second, the social control model, violence is seen as one among several important control mechanisms deeply rooted in the social order of prison life. While these models are clearly not mutually exclusive, they have taken researchers along quite distinct paths. I consider three forms of violence in the Texas prison system: homicide, inmate-inmate assaults with weapons, and inmate-staff assaults. My results, which support the control model over the crowding model, have several methodological and policy implications.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , 1986 , pp. 389 - 421
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

Funds provided by the Hogg Foundation at the University of Texas, Austin, have greatly facilitated this research. The assistance of Barbara Barnes, Bill Barry, Billy Birmingham, Eileen Boaz, Salvador Buentello, Larry Farnsworth, Pedro Lopez, Debbie Miller, Allen Sapp, Charles Smith, David Standlee, and Michael Supancic in collecting the data for this paper is gratefully acknowledged. Robert Kidder and two anonymous reviewers of the Law & Society Review provided careful, constructive comments.

References

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Statutes Cited

Texas Prison Management Act, Civil Statute 6184 (1973).Google Scholar