Reference no: EM133603519
Description
Prison culture refers to the social manifestation of the inmates' adaptation to specific prison environments and backgrounds. Major elements of prison culture include the development and perpetuation of belief systems, such as the collective institutional rules and values, and stratification systems that involve differences in inmates' status and roles in a group (Wooldredge, 2020; Valasik, 2018). Accordingly, different prison environments generate a range of challenges to adaptation, such as deprivation, which may produce relatively more radical behaviors among the incarcerated populations. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the effects of prison culture and management, including administrative policies and inmates' population, demographics, and interactions, on the growth and development of prison gangs.
Problem Statement and Significance
Prison gangs are durable groups with shared collective identities and behaviors, engage in patterns of illegal activities, and maintain a locus of custodial influence. According to Pyrooz (2022), about 15% of prisoners in the United States are affiliated with gangs, which is a significantly larger proportion to contain using institutional constraints. Despite the disproportionate concentration of violence among gang populations, attributed to group processes instead of individual propensities, criminal justice scholars and experts disagree on whether dispersion or concentration strategies create a safer prison environment and foster the desired behavior rehabilitation for inmates. Therefore, the study findings would help to determine appropriate correctional mechanisms to avert the prison gang culture and ensure the effective reintegration of offenders into society.
The Importance of Walden's Doctoral Capstone Resources to the Dissertation
The capstone resources will create a valuable literature and methodology foundation for the dissertation, including the relevant theories and study research design. Particularly, the books and journal articles will provide contextual definitions of key research terms, such as crime and criminal justice (Maxfield & Babbie, (2018), and a guide for writing a doctoral-level research paper (Amanfi, 2019). Generally, the capstone resources will form a writing template and reference for the dissertation.