Prisons Essays -- Social Issues, Rates of Violence

Introduction Longitudinal research has been conducted comparing the rate of violence in male and female prisons. It is important to do research on this topic because it does not only lead to the conclusion of where is violence prevalent, but focuses on other aspects as well. It focuses on the psychological, social, and sexual side of the inmate. This topic does not only focus on who has the highest rates of violence, but why does that sex have a higher rate. This topic looks deeper at the differences between male and female inmates and what causes them to have high rates of violence. Most people would say that male prisons have a higher rate of violence due to biological reasons. People tend to think that males are more aggressive therefore violence is prevalent in male prisons, yet there is a lot more to this idea. The focus of this paper is to inform if the rates of violence are higher in male or in female prisons and why that is the case. Various key factors have been addressed in relation to this topic. These four factors would not only help in answering the research questions, but open opportunities for similar research to be conducted. This research paper will explore if violence is higher in male or female prisons and why is it high. In order to answer these two research questions, the following factors will be discussed: relational violence in women’s prison, a comparison of sexual coercion experiences reported by men and women in prison, prisoner confrontations and the search for respect, and the rates of victimization. Theoretical Framework The most important factor regarding the topic on rates of violence in male and female prisons is relational violence in women’s prison. This factor is ver... ...ul and relevant. Every single study contributed in finding an answer to the research question. The studies showed the factors of why? How? and when? do inmates (males and females) engage in violence and how does this raise the rates of violence. Although all this data was very helpful more research should be performed. There should be more studies focusing on female inmates in order to give a better understanding of female prisons. Furthermore the studies that do use females as part of the study should increase the sample size. Authors usually examine large male sample size and only a few female sample sizes. This leaves people with the question of why is there a huge difference between the sample sizes. In conclusion if experimenters would focus on females like they do with males maybe more data can be presented.