Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T09:56:29.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Myth of Inmate Lawlessness: The Perceived Contradiction between Self and Other in Inmates' Support for Criminal Justice Sanctioning Norms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Lucia Benaquisto  and
Peter J. Freed
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The authors set out two key hypotheses. To address these hypotheses, (1) that inmates (deviants) reject the rules of the conventional order and (2) that they consciously do so as part of a subcultural group, the authors examine offenders' ideals about sanctions for rule breaking. The prison culture literature emphasizes the existence, most prevalent in custodial-oriented institutions, of an inmate subculture characterized by opposition and solidarity. These generalizations are primarily sustained by examining inmates' conformity with staff rules and expectations. This leaves open the question whether this solidary opposition and rejection of conventional norms extends beyond prison walls to broader societal norms regulating deviance. To measure the overall pattern and the relative importance of legally relevant and irrelevant criteria, the researchers obtained responses from a random sample of incarcerated offenders to vignettes describing criminal acts and other potential determinants of sanctions. Neither hypothesis was supported. Inmate sanctioning ideals most nearly resemble, in quality and quantity, those that they individually attribute to the contemporary judiciary. Yet most inmates believe that the other inmates, in contrast with themselves, would reject a coherent system of legal sanctions. The authors discuss the implications of the resulting (collectively self-contradictory) myth of inmate lawlessness.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , 1996 , pp. 481 - 511
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

We would like to thank the Ford Foundation, Education for Action, the McGill Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, and the McGill Computer Policy Sub-committee for grants that assisted us in the research and writing of this article. An earlier version was presented at the American Sociological Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 1991. We thank Harold Benenson, Carolyn Boyes-Watson, Mark Chaves, Pierre Tremblay, Steve Rytina, Mary Waters, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

References

Akers, Ronald L., Hayner, Norman S., & Gruninger, Werner (1974) “Homosexual and Drug Behavior in Prison: A Test of the Functional and Importation Models of the Inmate System,” 21 Social Problems 410.Google Scholar
Akers, Ronald L., Hayner, Norman S., & Gruninger, Werner (1977) “Prisonization in Five Countries: Types of Prison and Inmate Characteristics,” 14 Criminology 527.Google Scholar
Akman, D. D., Normandeau, A., & Turner, S. (1967) “The Measurement of Delinquency in Canada,” 58 J. of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science 330.Google Scholar
Arkin, Steven D. (1980–81) “Discrimination and Arbitrariness in Capital Punishment: An Analysis of Post-Furman Murder Cases in Dade County, Florida, 1973–1976,” 33 Stanford Law Rev. 75.Google Scholar
Baldus, David C., Pulaski, Charles, & Woodworth, George (1983) “Comparative Review of Death Sentences: An Empirical Study of the Georgia Experience,” 74 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 661.Google Scholar
Berk, Bernard B. (1966) “Organizational Goals and Inmate Organization,” 71 American J. of Sociology 522.Google Scholar
Blumstein, Alfred (1982) “On the Racial Disproportionality of United States' Prison Populations,” 73 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 259.Google Scholar
Blumstein, Alfred, & Cohen, Jacqueline (1980) “Sentencing of Convicted Offenders: An Analysis of the Public's View,” 14 Law & Society Rev. 223.Google Scholar
Blumstein, Alfred, Cohen, Jacqueline, Martin, Susan E., & Tonry, Michael H. (1983) “Summary,” in Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., Martin, S. E., & Tonry, M. H., eds., Research on Sentencing: The Search for Reform. Washington: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Casper, Jonathan D. (1972) American Criminal Justice: The Defendant's Perspective. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Clemmer, Donald (1958 [1940]) The Prison Community. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Cloward, Richard A. (1959) “Illegitimate Means, Anomie, and Deviant Behavior,” 24 American Sociological Rev. 164.Google Scholar
Cloward, Richard A., & Ohlin, Lloyd E. (1960) Delinquency and Opportunity. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Albert K. (1955) Delinquent Boys. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, James S. (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Cordilia, Ann (1983) The Making of an Inmate: Prison as a Way of Life. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Doble, John (1987) Crime and Punishment: The Public's View. New York: Public Agenda Foundation.Google Scholar
Doob, Anthony N., & Roberts, Julian V. (1984) “Social Psychology, Social Attitudes, and Attitudes toward Sentencing,” 16 Canadian J. of Behavioral Science 269.Google Scholar
Dubin, Robert (1959) “Deviant Behavior and Social Structure: Continuities in Social Theory,” 24 American Sociological Rev. 147.Google Scholar
Figlio, Robert M. (1975) “The Seriousness of Offenses: An Evaluation by Offenders and Non-Offenders,” 66 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 189.Google Scholar
Flanagan, Timothy J., McGarrell, Edmund F., & Brown, Edward J. (1985) “Public Perceptions of the Criminal Courts: The Role of Demographic and Related Attitudinal Variables,” 22 J. of Research in Crime & Delinquency 66.Google Scholar
Garabedian, Peter G. (1963) “Social Roles and Processes of Socialization in the Prison Community,” 11 Social Problems 139.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Jack B. (1965) “Norms: The Problem of Definition and Classification,” 70 American J. of Sociology 586.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Jack B. (1981) Norms, Deviance, and Social Control. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving (1961) Asylums. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Grapendaal, M. (1990) “The Inmate Subculture in Dutch Prisons,” 30 British J. of Criminology 341.Google Scholar
Grosser, George H. (1960) “External Setting and Internal Relations of the Prison,” in Cloward, R. et al., eds., Theoretical Studies in Social Organization of the Prison. New York: Social Science Research Council.Google Scholar
Hamilton, V. Lee, & Rytina, Steve (1980) “Social Consensus on Norms of Justice: Should the Punishment Fit the Crime?” 85 American J. of Sociology 1117.Google Scholar
Hirschi, Travis (1969) Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Irwin, John (1970) The Felon. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Irwin, John, & Cressey, Donald R. (1962) “Thieves, Convicts and the Inmate Culture,” 10 Social Problems 142.Google Scholar
Jacobs, James B. (1974) “Street Gangs behind Bars,” 21 Social Problems 395.Google Scholar
John, Peter W. M. (1971) Statistical Design and Analysis of Experiments. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Keil, Thomas J., & Vito, Gennaro F. (1989) “Race, Homicide Severity, and Application of the Death Penalty: A Consideration of the Barnett Scale,” 27 Criminology 511.Google Scholar
Kleck, Gary (1981) “Racial Discrimination in Criminal Sentencing: A Critical Evaluation of the Evidence with Additional Evidence on the Death Penalty,” 46 American Sociological Rev. 783.Google Scholar
Kramer, John, & Steffensmeir, Darrell (1993) “Race and Imprisonment Decisions,” 34 Sociological Q. 357.Google Scholar
Larson, Calvin J., & Berg, , Bruce, L. (1989) “Inmates' Perceptions of Determinate and Indeterminate Sentences,” 7 Behavioral Sciences & the Law 127.Google Scholar
Matsueda, Ross L. (1982) “Testing Control Theory and Differential Association,” 47 American Sociological Rev. 489.Google Scholar
McCorkle, Lloyd, & Korn, Richard (1962) “Resocialization within Walls,” in Johnston, N., Savitz, L., & Wolfgang, M., eds., The Sociology of Punishment and Correction. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
McNeece, C. Aaron, & Lusk, Mark W. (1979) “A Consumer's View of Correctional Policy: Inmate Attitudes regarding Determinate Sentencing,” 6 Criminal Justice & Behavior 383.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. (1959) “Social Conformity, Deviation, and Opportunity-Structures: A Comment on the Contributions of Dubin and Cloward,” 24 American Sociological Rev. 177.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. (1968) Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Walter B. (1958) “Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency,” 14 J. of Social Issues 5.Google Scholar
Newman, Graeme R. (1976) Comparative Deviance: Perception and Law in Six Cultures. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Peterson, Ruth D., & Hagan, John (1984) “Changing Conceptions of Race: Towards an Account of Anomalous Findings of Sentencing Research,” 49 American Sociological Rev. 56.Google Scholar
Pruitt, Charles R., & Wilson, James Q. (1983) “A Longitudinal Study of the Effect of Race on Sentencing,” 17 Law & Society Rev. 613.Google Scholar
Rose, Arnold M., & Prell, Arthur E. (1955) “Does the Punishment Fit the Crime? A Study in Social Valuations,” 61 American J. of Sociology 247.Google Scholar
Rossi, Peter H., & Berk, Richard A. (1985) “Varieties of Normative Consensus,” 50 American Sociological Rev. 333.Google Scholar
Rossi, Peter H., Simpson, Jon E., & Miller, JoAnn L. (1985) “Beyond Crime Seriousness: Fitting the Punishment to the Crime,” 1 J. of Quantitative Criminology 59.Google Scholar
Rossi, Peter H., Waite, Emily, Bose, Christine E., & Berk, Richard E. (1974) “The Seriousness of Crime: Normative Structure and Individual Differences,” 39 American Sociological Rev. 224.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Barry (1971) “Pre-institutional vs. Situational Influences in a Correctional Community,” 62 J. of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science 532.Google Scholar
Sellin, Thorsten, & Wolfgang, Marvin E. (1964) The Measurement of Delinquency. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Shaw, Clifford R. (1929) Delinquency Areas. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Shaw, Clifford R., & McKay, Henry D. (1942) Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Slosar, John A. Jr. (1978) Prisonization, Friendship and Leadership. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Smith, Carol F. W., & Hepburn, John R. (1979) “Alienation in Prison Organizations: A Comparative Analysis,” 17 Criminology 251.Google Scholar
Spohn, Cassia, Gruhl, John, & Welch, Susan (1981–82) “The Effect of Race on Sentencing: A Re-examination of an Unsettled Question,” 16 Law & Society Rev. 71.Google Scholar
Sutherland, Edwin H. (1947) Principles of Criminology. 4th Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Sutherland, Edwin H., & Cressey, Donald R. (1978) Criminology. 10th Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott.Google Scholar
Sykes, Gresham M. (1958) The Society of Captives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Sykes, Gresham M., & Messinger, Sheldon L. (1960) “The Inmate Social System,” in Cloward, R. et al., eds., Theoretical Studies in Social Organization of the Prison. New York: Social Science Research Council.Google Scholar
Thomas, Charles W. (1973) “Prisonization or Resocialization? A Study of External Factors Associated with the Impact of Imprisonment,” 10 J. of Research in Crime & Delinquency 13.Google Scholar
Thomas, Charles W. (1977) “Theoretical Perspectives on Prisonization: A Comparison of the Importation and Deprivation Models,” 68 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 135.Google Scholar
Thomas, Charles W., & Foster, Samuel C. (1972) “Prisonization in the Inmate Contraculture,” 20 Social Problems 229.Google Scholar
Thomas, Charles W., & Foster, Samuel C. (1973) “The Importation Model Perspective on Inmate Social Roles: An Empirical Test,” 14 Sociological Q. 226.Google Scholar
Thomas, Charles W., Petersen, David M., & Zingraff, Rhonda M. (1978) “Structural and Social Psychological Correlates of Prisonization,” 16 Criminology 383.Google Scholar
Thomson, Douglas R., & Ragona, Anthony J. (1987) “Popular Moderation versus Governmental Authoritarianism: An Interactionist View of Public Sentiments toward Criminal Sanctions,” 33 Crime & Delinquency 337.Google Scholar
Tittle, Charles R. (1969) “Inmate Organizations: Sex Differentiation and the Influence of Criminal Subcultures,” 34 American Sociological Rev. 492.Google Scholar
Wheeler, Stanton (1961a) “Socialization in Correctional Communities,” 26 American Sociology Rev. 697.Google Scholar
Wheeler, Stanton (1961b) “Role Conflict in Correctional Communities,” in Cressey, D. R., ed., The Prison: Studies in Institutional Organization and Change. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
White, Garland F. (1975) “Public Responses to Hypothetical Crimes: Effect of Offender and Victim Status and Seriousness of the Offense on Punitive Reactions,” 53 Social Forces 411.Google Scholar
Zamble, Edward, & Porporino, Frank J. (1988) Coping, Behavior, and Adaptation in Prison Inmates. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar