ABSTRACT
Aside from the utilitarian arguments for reducing violence in prison, such efforts are important because the existence of violence in prison is an affront to criminal “justice” per se by nature of creating inequities in punishment across inmates based on their odds of offending or being victimized. To demonstrate the salience of a moral argument favoring violence prevention in prison, we return to the civil cases cited in Chapter 1 involving suits brought by prisoners against their keepers for failing to protect them from the violence of other inmates. These cases reflect scenarios that must be addressed in effective violence prevention strategies while also underscoring the injustices associated with being a victim of violence in prison. The chapter concludes with a discussion of study limitations and suggestions to researchers for moving forward. These suggestions focus on geographic scope, possible measures at each level of analysis (especially more specific staff indicators of mental health), and the use of structural equation modeling within a multilevel framework.
