ABSTRACT
A framework for understanding inmate violence is presented that incorporates the same types of measures examined in alternate frameworks but that also has the ability to move well beyond the “usual suspects.” This framework can also be applied to an understanding of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-officer victimizations. This framework integrates social control and lifestyle/routine activities theories while including both micro- and macro-level factors reflecting individual characteristics (of inmates or officers), prison environments (physical attributes of facilities as well as inmate population composition), and management practices (including perceived legitimacy of prison authority and the exercise of power by custodial staff). Applied to in-prison violence, individual (inmate or officer), environmental (prison), and managerial (prison staff/administrative) factors are embedded in the ideas of personal/self-control, an individual’s social bond, individual lifestyles/routines, guardianship, and target suitability. These factors ultimately shape an inmate’s odds of engaging in violence as well as the odds of an inmate or officer being victimized by violence. The strength of this integrated framework lies in the compatibility of these theories, unlike past efforts to combine theories that are logically inconsistent.
